The CDC is worried about drug resistant Shigella, which is what it is warning about

A Call to the CDC: The Emerging Public Health Threat and How to Protect Your Hands From Shigella, E. Coli, and Other Populations

On Tuesday, the CDC held a call to inform clinicians about the emerging public health threat. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the U.K. health security agency have experience dealing with the disease.

Other strains of Shigella are increasingly drug-resistant, and there are concerns that the bacteria’s the drug-resistant genes mutations could jump to other bacteria, such as E. coli, Francois Watkins says.

A recent report by the United Nations said roughly 5 million deaths worldwide were associated with antimicrobial resistance in 2019 and the annual toll is expected to increase to 10 million by 2050 if steps are not taken to stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Dr. Louise Francois Watkins, a medical officer at the CDC, told NPR that the new forms of the bug are resistant to all but one of the five antibiotics that are normally used.

While shigellosis is typically seen in young children, the XDR form of the stomach bug is more prevalent among adults. The CDC said it’s finding most cases of XDR Shigella among men who have sex with men, people experiencing homelessness, international travelers and people living with HIV.

“XDR Shigella has a real, alarming capacity to spread globally, especially among these vulnerable populations,” says Dr. Naeemah Logan, a CDC medical officer.

One way to protect yourself from Shigella is by washing your hands, and people who are sexually active can also wash their sex toys with soapy water.

Report of travelers who had visited Cabo Verde (West Africa) during the September 2022 African Reaction of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control issued an alert a week before the CDC’s, saying there had been 221 confirmed and 37 possible cases among travelers who had visited Cabo Verde off of West Africa since September 2022. The most likely route of transmission is through food, as many cases are linked to all-inclusive hotels. Affected guests returned home to the U.K., the U.S., and nations across the European Union.