Shigella Has Moved Into Macon County, IL And Isn't Leaving Very Fast

Posted by Shigella Attorney on April 28, 2009

Decatur, IL and surrounding Macon County appears to be another hotspot for Shigella.   Macon County Health officials are reporting 68 cases of Shigella since last November, with 19 cases through the first half of April.

 In his blog, Paul Osborne, editor of the Decatur Tribune, reports that statewide there are about 1,300 cases of Shigella each year, but he adds this important note:

Because some mild cases go unreported, it is expected that at least 20 times more people are actually infected with the bacterium. Laboratory tests can be done to diagnose Shigella and in some cases, antibiotics can be used to treat the condition.

For Editor Osborne's complete discussion about Shigella in his community, go here.

We agree with his conclusion: "This is certainly something we don't want spreading in our community."

 

Lubbock 2008 Shigella Outbreak Is Not Really Over Even Yet

Posted by Shigella Attorney on April 22, 2009

 Believe it or not, a bunch of us passed through Lubbock, Texas yesterday on the way to its neighbor to the north, the town of Plainview, Texas.   An item in the local newspaper caught our attention.

It seems that the great Buddy Holly's hometown is still working its way out of a September 2008 outbreak of Shigella.   With almost one-third of the year gone, Lubbock has experienced 148 confirmed cases of shigella so far in 2009. That may indicate some improvement over 2008 when a total of 714 cases were reported.

The City of Lubbock's Health Department says it continues to investigate and monitor shigella in the community.  "So far this year we've seen 174 cases of enteric diseases in Lubbock," Beckie Brawley, Lubbock Health Department public health coordinator said. "Enteric diseases can be caused by a number of factors like contaminated water, contaminated food or coming into contact with infected animals and usually causes diarrhea or vomiting."

For more on how the battle against Shigella is going in Lubbock, check this out.

 

 

Shigella So Common It Makes Top Three Among Food-borne Illnesses

Posted by Shigella Attorney on April 14, 2009

Shigella was the third most common food-borne illness in the United States during 2008, according to the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) of CDC's Emerging Infections Program, which collects data from 10 U.S. states.

The number of infections and incidence per 100,000 population were reported as follows:

  • Salmonella (7,444; 16.20),
  • Campylobacter (5,825; 12.68),
  • Shigella (3,029; 6.59),
  • Cryptosporidium (1,036; 2.25),
  • STEC O157 (513; 1.12),
  • STEC non-O157 (205; 0.45),
  • Yersinia (164; 0.36),
  • Listeria (135; 0.29),
  • Vibrio (131; 0.29),
  • and Cyclospora (17; 0.04).

See the chart below for details. Go here for details on the study.

TABLE 1. Incidence* of laboratory-confirmed bacterial and parasitic infection in 2008† and postdiarrheal hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in 2007, by site and pathogen, compared with national health objectives§ — Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network, United States Pathogen California Colorado Connecticut Georgia Maryland Minnesota New Mexico New York Oregon Tennessee Overall 2008 National health objective§ Bacteria Campylobacter 30.23 14.36 15.13 7.15 6.66 16.97 17.97 11.20 18.20 7.68 12.68 12.30 Listeria 0.65 0.15 0.46 0.27 0.30 0.13 0.25 0.45 0.16 0.23 0.29 0.24 Salmonella 14.62 12.48 14.10 23.97 15.02 14.53 26.40 10.15 10.59 14.63 16.20 6.80 Shigella 4.83 3.15 1.14 11.51 2.05 5.96 8.02 0.77 1.97 15.56 6.59 —¶ STEC** O157 1.14 3.04 0.74 0.44 0.59 2.27 0.81 1.20 1.49 0.84 1.12 1.00 STEC non-O157 0.06 0.89 0.49 0.26 0.55 0.98 1.47 0.40 0.13 0.06 0.45 — Vibrio 0.65 0.15 0.40 0.20 0.59 0.15 0.10 0.19 0.32 0.16 0.29 — Yersinia 0.34 0.26 0.43 0.47 0.23 0.33 0.15 0.45 0.40 0.31 0.36 — Parasites Cryptosporidium 1.32 1.00 1.17 2.66 0.94 4.50 8.83 2.65 1.44 0.70 2.25 — Cyclospora 0.00 0.00 0.11 0.02 0.05 0.06 0.10 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.04 — HUS†† 2.43 0.98 0.47 1.08 0.27 2.83 — 1.31 2.54 3.91 1.75 0.90 Surveillance population (millions) 3.25 2.70 3.50 9.54 5.62 5.20 1.97 4.27 3.75 6.16 45.95 * Per 100,000 population. † Data for 2008 are preliminary. § Current Healthy People 2010 objective 10-1 targets for incidence of Campylobacter, Salmonella, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157, and Listeria infections, and HUS. ¶ No national health objective exists for these pathogens. ** Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. †† Incidence of postdiarrheal HUS in children aged <5 years; denominator is surveillance population aged <5 years in sites that conduct hospital discharge data review (New Mexico excluded).