Spike in cases of highly contagious bacterial infection sparks warning

Local health officials are cautioning residents to be extra careful about hand-washing after a spike in the number of cases of a highly contagious infection that causes bloody diarrhea and fever.
So far this year in Marion County, there have been 107 cases of shigella, a bacterial disease transmitted only by humans. Last year at this time, the county had had 58 cases.
“We have been seeing an increase in the last several weeks, so we’re concerned about that,” said Dr. Crystal Jones, medical director of the acute disease program for the Marion County Health Department. “We certainly want to nip it in the bud and control the situation before it gets worse.”
Not only are county officials advising people to take particular care in washing their hands after using the bathroom and before handling food, they’re also asking health-care professionals to be vigilant in testing for suspected cases of the disease.
And they’d like people who have symptoms of the disease to stay home from work or school to avoid infecting others and practice good hygiene to keep the bacteria from spreading to family members.
While many cases will resolve without treatment, infected individuals will continue to shed the bacteria in their stool for up to 30 days after the symptoms end, Jones said.
Antibiotics are typically used to treat the infection, which is passed from person to person by the fecal-oral route. It is often seen among children.
Some of the cases in Marion County have been clustered among families, day-care centers and schools, Jones said.
Only Marion County has seen an increase in cases, said Lynae Granzow, an enteric epidemiologist with the Indiana State Department of Health.
But the state Department of Health wants other counties to be aware of the threat so people will take precautions.
“It is highly contagious, so that’s why in situations like this there’s a huge outreach,” she said. “We certainly don’t want to see this spread into other counties.”
Each year, about 18,000 shigella cases are reported in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts estimate, however, that because many cases are never detected, the incidence is about 20 times that.
It is also common in Third World countries.
Indiana typically has few cases. Periodically, however, certain communities see a rash of infections. That last happened in Marion County in 2000, when more than 1,300 cases were reported.
“So we certainly want to prevent that from happening again,” Jones said.

By the numbers
Shigella cases reported in Marion County:

2000: 1,313

2001: 67

2002: 15

2003: 39

2004: 165

2005: 109

2006: 58

2007: 107

Source: Marion County Health Department

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