Shigella is not uncommon cause of bacterial enteritis in children. It is a Gram-negative non-lactose fermenter rod. Worldwide, 90 million cases are reported annually, 89 million of which occur in developing countries. Almost 70% of cases occur in children under 5 years of age. Every year 110,000 death occurs due to shigellosis, 65% of which occur in children below 5 years of age. The main clinical presentation is that of enteritis: vomiting and diarrhea.
Microbiology
Shigella is a Gram-negative, nonmotile bacillus. There are around 36 serotypes of Shigella which are divided into four groups: S. dysenteriae (group A) including 13 serotypes, S. flexneri (group B) including 13 serotypes, S. boydii (group C) including 18 serotypes, and S. sonnei (group D) with one serotype. The most pathogenic type is S. dysenteriae, which cause a significant proportion of shigellosis in developing countries; however, it is rare in developed countries. Shigellacan be grown on MacConkey, xylose lysine...
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Al-shaalan, M. (2012). Shigellosis. In: Elzouki, A.Y., Harfi, H.A., Nazer, H.M., Stapleton, F.B., Oh, W., Whitley, R.J. (eds) Textbook of Clinical Pediatrics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02202-9_91
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