International travelers beware, 243 cases of a new drug resistant strain of shigella have been identified worldwide. The new Ciprofloxacin resistant strain causes bloody diarrhea and is spreading fast.
Shigellosis, is an active infection with shigella. It usually lasts a week or so and troubles one's bowels for months. The normal strain seems to afflict around 500,000 Americans each year, according to a study released by CDC on Thursday.
Drug resistance isn’t new here. Only about 2 percent of shigella detected in the U.S. showed resistance to Cipro previously. This recent outbreak is definitely beating old records.
“Drug-resistant infections are harder to treat and because shigella spreads so easily between people, the potential for more and larger outbreaks is a real concern”, said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden in a statement. “We’re moving quickly to implement a national strategy to curb antibiotic resistance because we can’t take for granted that we’ll always have the drugs we need to fight common infections”, he added.
Shigella is an infection that spreads under most innocent conditions. All you need to do is forget to wash your hands; that’s all it takes. The average person can do a great deal to curb the spread of this infection. All they have to do is wash their hands regularly. It saves lives.
If you do end up getting this drug resistant, shigella, take heart, we have lots of antibiotics beyond Ciprofloxacin and will be able to handle this thing with minimal fuss.
Antibiotic resistance is going to be more of an issue in the future for all of us. The haphazard use of antibiotics today has already guaranteed that there will be a great deal of resistant bacteria and viruses to deal with in the future.
The way to minimize the gaining of these super powers is to take the courses of antibiotics that you have been prescribed completely and properly. Always follow your doctor’s and your pharmacist’s recommendations regarding your medications.
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