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Sexually transmitted diarrhea cases soaring in US — and its growing resistant to medicine (www.independent.co.uk)

submitted 1 day ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

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There are 450,000 infections each year in the US including 240,000 cases that do not respond to regular treatment

Cases of the highly contagious and often drug-resistant bacterial disease, Shigella, are rising across the U.S., with dozens of doctors issuing warnings.

Shigella infections, known as shigellosis, can cause bloody diarrhea, dysentery, fever, vomiting, dehydration, stomach cramps, seizures, blood infections and in rare cases, death.

Experts have long been aware that drug-resistant strains of Shigella disproportionately cause severe illness in children under the age of 5. But doctors from health departments across the U.S. announced in April that white men are now the most susceptible to infections from drug resistant Shigella.

That findings could change the way hospitals respond to the pervasive illness, the doctors noted in a federal report.

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[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yes you are right, but the sexual transmission aspect has reasons to mention it. One thing I'm unclear about is how frequently this disease spreads sexually vs by other means, I couldn't find this mentioned in the article and if the study mentioned it I can't parse the academic jargon well enough to see it.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

my problem is calling it an std, because it will run rampant with out any sexual activity happening in a community. A monestary could have an outbreak. To me it minimizes it by looking at one way it can transmit when its likely not even the most common. Food borne pathogens are a much bigger deal.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I guess that's fair, but the wording of the title to me doesn't imply that it can't spread other ways. I wish we did know whether it's the most common though because that is very relevant to whether the headline is misleading.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

there is no way sexual contact is more common with this type of pathogen than someone preparing food without washing their hands. that is such a common spread vector I just can't possibly see it.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

In one of the studies cited by this one it's implied that the number is around 30% (in Australia):

In total, 545 Shigella isolates (364 Shigella sonnei and 181 Shigella flexneri) isolates underwent WGS, representing 42.9% (545/1269) of shigellosis notifications in Victoria over the study period. The median age was 35 years (interquartile range 27–48; range 0–83), with a male to female ratio of 2.4:1.0 (Supplementary Figure 1). Over one-third of cases (36.0%; 196/545) were associated with overseas travel as a primary risk factor, and 176 (32.3%) cases identified MSM as a primary risk factor.

And 60% for the specific strain associated with sexual transmission and higher antibiotic resistance:

In contrast to the travel-associated lineages, S. sonnei cases in BP3 were significantly associated with MSM, with 61% (97/159) of males in this lineage reporting MSM as a primary risk factor (Figure 1; Table 1).

Although I'm also reading that it differs a lot by region because of different hygiene/public health standards so the numbers might be different elsewhere.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 8 hours ago

yeah this is a small sample size for a disease that has been around a long time. When it comes down to it I feel it wierd to call it sexual transmitted. Any disease that can be transmitted by any bodily secretion or inhalation for that matter can be transmitted with sexual contact. sexual contact is a very specific and not common circumstance. as much as std's are scary they are a subset that is kinda easy to avoid but also sucks to avoid.