Superbug Surge in US: New Shigella Strain Could Be ‘Unstoppable’

United States: The LA reports have suggested that the cases of shigella superbugs are on the verge of spreading rampantly across the city.

Researchers have tracked down a worrying new strain of Shigella bacteria in the area—one that can resist almost every antibiotic thrown at it.

More about the news

In a UCLA-conducted study, the researchers focused on an unusual cluster of Shigella cases that occurred between 2023 and 2024.

In each of the cases, it was determined that they were both colonized with an extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strain of bacteria.

Moreover, the victims all survived, but the researchers note that the finding is ‘alarming’ – and it might be even worse because superbug could be transmitted in LA and other places, gizmodo.com reported.

About Shigella

Shigella is a routine cause of diarrhea and other gastrointestinal manifestations.

Most cases only result in one week of suffering followed by spontaneous healing; however, the infection can cause serious, even fatal complications, and this is more common in individuals whose immune systems have not developed fully or are compromised in some way, for example, in very young children.

Shigella is responsible for approximately 200,000 deaths per year; it is estimated to affect about 500,000 in the United States every year, many of whom have to be admitted to the hospital.

The germ mostly passes through food and drinks, but it also passes through sexual contact. The last mode of transmission appears more influential concerning anal contact in men having sexual relations with other men.

Severe Shigella cases or those considered to be at high risk of an attack may be prescribed antibiotics, gizmodo.com reported.

Yet, like in many other bacteria species, Shigella bacteria have gradually been realizing ways to avoid the most used antibiotics that are usually used to treat it.

The most dangerous types of strains that are being formed are multiple drug resistant, which implies that produce capability to overcome many antibiotics.

This month in the Journal of Infection Control, UCLA researchers reported that they had identified a new XDR strain of Shigella sonnei in three individuals.