Syn: bacillary dysentery. An acute bloody diarrhea caused by Shigella organisms of four distinct species: S. dysenteriae, S. flexneri, S. boydii, and S. sonnei. Transmission is fecal-oral, e.g., linked to poor food hygiene and/or infected or carrier food handlers, or water-borne. This can be a prostrating and debilitating illness, although it is seldom life threatening, except in infants, small children, and persons already debilitated and dehydrated by other disease.
Subjects: Public Health and Epidemiology.