Sexually transmitted stomach bug spreads

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Antibiotic-resistant shigellosis infections have become widespread in the United States. Many are sexually transmitted and can affect the most vulnerable communities.

What are the symptoms and modes of transmission?

Shigellosis is a gastrointestinal disease caused by a group of bacteria called Shigella. Associated symptoms include acute diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and fever for up to seven days. In most cases, people with shigellosis are able to recover on their own, but patients with more severe cases may require antibiotics and hospitalization.

Shigellosis is spread primarily by the fecal-oral route, usually from contaminated food and water. However, another method of transmission has become increasingly prevalent: there is a “distinct and intensified sexual transmission of shigellosis,” according to a study published in The Lancet. Traditional preventive measures against illness, such as hand washing and food safety, are “not likely” to contribute to this type of spread.

The infection is most often spread between men who sleep with other men. “Many men who have sex with men are unaware of the serious and growing risk posed by sexually transmitted Shigella,” lead study author Kate Baker said in a statement. statement.

Is this common?

Although public opinion is concerned about the spread of the disease, there has not yet been a major epidemic. According to the most recent CDC dataNearly 15,000 people will be diagnosed with shigellosis in the United States in 2026, and the disease has been detected in 47 states. These numbers are similar to last year. But there has also been an increase in the number of antibiotic resistant case.

Among nearly 17,000 isolates of Shigella species with resistance data, extensively drug-resistant (XDR) isolates increased between 2011 and 2023, a study found. CDC analysis. Most outbreaks in the United States “involved drug-susceptible strains and primarily affected children,” but “national surveillance data indicate that most cases of XDR occurred in adult men.”

Shigellosis XDR is risky for children and disadvantaged populations such as unhoused people. The infection has “gone from relatively treatable with commercially available medications” to “nearly incurable over the past decade,” Baker said.