The bacteria caused intestinal illness in 243 people in 32 states and Puerto Rico between May 2014 and February 2015 in a series of outbreaks, and the CDC linked the illness to ill travelers who returned to the U.S. and infected others.
Shigellosis can spread quickly through groups, and the bacteria that caused these outbreaks were largely resistant to ciprofloxacin, or Cipro, which is the first choice of treatment for the illness in adults in the U.S. Most Shigella in the U.S. is already resistant to two other antibiotics, but these outbreaks show the bacteria’s resistance to Cipro is increasing.
“These outbreaks show a troubling trend in Shigella infections in the United States,” said Tom Frieden, MD, director of the CDC. “Drug-resistant infections are harder to treat and because Shigella spreads so easily between people, the potential for more — and larger — outbreaks is a real concern. We’re moving quickly to implement a national strategy to curb antibiotic resistance because we can’t take for granted that we’ll always have the drugs we need to fight common infections.”
More articles on antibiotic resistance:
Traditional antibiotic less likely to cause antibiotic resistance in pneumonia patients
White House to release plan to reduce antibiotic resistance
Chlorine used in wastewater treatment may boost antibiotic resistance, study finds
