Section 12 Bacillary Dysentery

Introduction of Bacillary Dysentery

Bacillary dysentery is an acute intestinal infectious disease that is caused by Shigella. Acute poisoning type bacillary dysentery is easy to misdiagnosis and even life-threading. Patients and carriers are infection sources for this disease，which spreads via indirect or direct fecal-oral route through ingestion of contaminated water，food，person to person transmission. All people are susceptible to this disease，because immunity after illness only last for a short period and no cross-immunity is present among the bacterial types，second infection can occur in a short time；Prevalence of bacillary dysentery is high among children. This disease often takes place in summer and autumn and in less developed regions and countries. The following factors make it difficult to control bacillary dysentery：maintenance of immune resistance to this disease lasts short.

According to the antigen structure，dysentery bacteria falls into in 4 groups，39 antigen types，14 serotypes and 2 variants. Group A is Shigella dysenteriae that includes 16 serotypes；group B is Shigella flexneri that has 6 serotypes and 2 variants；group C is Shigella boydii that comprises 18 serotypes；group D is Shigella sonnei that has one serotype. Distribution of the strains varies from country to country，area to area and year to year. The incubation period ranges from several hours to 7 days （1-4 days in average）. Symptoms of acute bacterial infections usually involving distal small intestine and colon mainly manifest as loose stools accompanied by fever，nausea，toxaemia，vomiting，cramp and tenesmus. Seizure is the most common complication among children. Some patients show light and asymptomatic infections. It is self-limiting disease with most patients getting better within 2 to 3 days. Specific prevention method for this disease is still unavailable. Surveillance，control of infection sources，cutting off transmission routes and health education may be helpful. Diagnosis of this disease bases on epidemiological history，clinical symptoms and lab test. For the criteria for diagnosis，please refer to the National Standards for Diagnosis of Bacillary Dysentery.

细菌性痢疾流行病学个案调查表

Epidemiological Questionnaire for Cases of Bacillary Dysentery

Questionnaire

（本节编者-汪慧　本节核对-马蒙蒙　孙艺）