Shigella is a type of Gram-negative bacteria that causes dysentery. The only reservoirs of the bacteria are humans and monkeys. The bacteria were first isolated and described in 1897 by the Japanese microbiologist Kiyoshi Shiga. ¹⁾

The source of dysentery infection is contact with a sick person or infected food. ²⁾

The carriers of dysentery are people who have passed the disease but have not treated it and do not have symptoms of infection themselves, but in their stools, there are pathogenic bacteria. ³⁾

Dysentery infection most often occurs by the dirty hands' method, through infected food, or groundwater. ⁴⁾

Shigella usually infects salads, raw vegetables, milk and dairy products, poultry, and groundwater in the immediate area. Unlike salmonella, only a few bacteria are needed for infection to occur. ⁵⁾

Most dysentery infections occur in summer and usually in hot, tropical climates where hygiene conditions are difficult. ⁶⁾

Symptoms of dysentery include diarrhea with an admixture of blood, fever, and less frequently, vomiting. Untreated dysentery can prove to be a fatal disease. ⁷⁾

Infections caused by dysentery bacilli are treated with antibiotics, as this is the only way to avoid a local epidemic. ⁸⁾