A Case of Shigellosis due to Shigella dysenteriae 1 which was thought to be Infected in Domestic Area

Abstract

A 43-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain on January 10, 1989. On laboratory examination S. dysenteriae 1 was isolated from his stool, therefore he was diagnosed as shigellosis. After the administration of ofloxacin was started, S. dysenteriae 1 was immediately eradicated. But his diarrhea persisted until the 19th day from the onset of the illness and his abdominal pain persisted until the 21st day. He had never been overseas and he had never eaten any imported uncooked food recently.
Only 14 cases of shigellosis due to S. dysenteriae 1 were found in the last ten years in Japan. All of them were overseas travellers. Although we were not able to determine the source of infection in our case, we inferred that he was primarily infected with S. dysenteriae 1 in Japan.