Posted April 2, 2015 6:35 PM ET; Last updated April 4, 2015 5:12 PM ET
[From article]
“This is the first time we’ve documented this large an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant (shigella) linked to international travel,” said Dr. Anna Bowen of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since last May, the imported superbug has sickened at least 243 people, with large recent outbreaks in
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and California.
[. . .]
For most people, it’s an unpleasant but temporary illness that ends within a week and can be helped with over-the-counter medicines like Pepto-Bismol or Imodium. Sometimes antibiotics are used: usually azithromycin for children and ciprofloxacin, sold as Cipro, for adults.
The past few years, health officials have been detecting shigella bugs resistant to azithromycin. The Cipro-resistant superbug has sickened people in 32 states and Puerto Rico.
Drug-resistant stomach bug spreads in US
By Associated Press
New York Post
April 4, 2015 | 9:58am
* * *
[From article]
Called Shigella, the bug turned up in 243 cases in 32 states and Puerto Rico between May and February, the CDC said in a statement today. The biggest clusters were reported in California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
[. . .]
Infections with Shigella are not normally fatal, according to the CDC. About a quarter of the cases in the most recent outbreaks were hospitalized, and no deaths were reported. Annually, Shigella causes about 500,000 illnesses, 5,500 hospitalizations, and 40 deaths in the U.S., according to the White House's National Strategy For Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. While these strains are predominantly resistant to Cipro, most are still susceptible to at least one other oral antibiotic, the CDC said.
Shigella infections often clear on their own, though doctors frequently prescribe antibiotics for even mild illnesses, the CDC said.
Drug-resistant intestinal illness Shigella spreading in US
Meg Tirrell | @megtirrell
April 2, 2015
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