While an 11-year-old boy died in Kozhikode, there are at least 40 cases of infection in the district that put health authorities on alert.
However, the district physician, Dr. V Jayasree, says that the reported Shigella infection on the Kozhikode corporation boundaries has been controlled.
This is everything you need to know about Shigella infection:
What is Shigella infection?
Shigella infection is an intestinal infection caused by the Shigella bacteria. The main symptoms include diarrhea, often with traces of blood and mucus in the stool, stomach pain and fever. Symptoms can appear seven days after exposure. Children under the age of five are more susceptible to getting the infection, although the elderly can get it too.
Shigellosis, an infection of the intestines caused by the bacteria Shigella, is one of the leading causes of death among children under the age of five, with bloody diarrhea worldwide, especially in low-income developing countries in Africa and South Asia, says Hilleman Laboratories.
According to the 2015 Global Burden of Disease report, diarrheal diseases were collectively responsible for 1.3 million deaths in all age groups worldwide.
The Shigella bacteria cause about 500,000 cases of diarrheal illness in the United States each year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a 2015 Reuters report.
How many cases?
Health authorities are on high alert after 15 more suspected cases of Shigella infection were identified during a special medical camp held in Kottamparamba near Mayanad on the borders of the Kozhikode corporation on Saturday. Up to 119 people attended the medical camp.
This report comes after 25 cases, six of them confirmed, were reported from the boundaries of the Kozhikode corporation.
An 11-year-old boy died of the disease last week at Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital (KGMCH), where he was admitted after diarrhea.
Recently, six confirmed cases and 19 suspected cases had been reported in the area, after which the department decided to hold a medical camp in Kottamparamba.
What is the origin of the disease?
According to the health department, most of the suspected cases had attended the deceased minor’s funeral or had taken food out of the home. Authorities say contaminated water can be a source of disease.
While KGMCH sources say contaminated drinking water could be the possible cause of the infection, the health department has not been able to identify the source of the infection.
What is the current state?
According to the district doctor, Dr. V Jayasree, the reported Shigella infection on the Kozhikode corporation boundaries has been controlled.
He said the health department had stepped up preventive measures as soon as the first infection was reported in the area, helping to control the spread of the bacterial infection.
Meanwhile, the department of community medicine at Kozhikode Government Medical College has submitted a preliminary report indicating that the source of Shigella infection in Kottamparamba and nearby areas on the boundaries of Kozhikode corporation could be through of contaminated water.
The department’s associate professor, Dr. Jayakrishnan T, said a team from the department would visit the area as part of the investigation before presenting the final report.
It is suspected that the shigella infection could have been transmitted through the water that was served to the people who attended the funeral of the 11-year-old boy.
Apart from the deceased child, six people who had attended the funeral or had contact with the house tested positive and another 34 in the area have been identified as suspected cases.
The results of tests on water samples taken from five wells in the area are awaited.
Is there a vaccine?
According to fda.gov (Food and Drug Administration), there are no licensed vaccines available for protection against Shigella.
In 2017, PTI reported that an Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) institute and a global vaccine research and development organization had signed a memorandum of understanding for further development and commercialization of vaccines for shigellosis and other diarrheal diseases.
Shigella infection has been treated with antibiotics and “there is no vaccine to prevent Shigellosis. Vaccines are the only effective tool to fight the disease, ”the PTI quoted ICMR Director General Soumya Swaminathan as saying.
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