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‘Serious public health threat’: CDC warns about the rise in almost untreatable Shigella bacterial infections

The drug-resistant stomach bug, a major cause of inflammatory diarrhea, is a “serious public health threat.”

A podium with the logo for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the Tom Harkin Global Communications Center on October 5, 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) (Kevin C. Cox, 2014 Getty Images)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning about a rise in extensively drug-resistant cases of the bacterial infection Shigella, a major cause of inflammatory diarrhea.

The agency calls the new form of the stomach bug, which causes the diarrheal condition known as shigellosis, a “serious public health threat.” Evidence suggests the illness is spreading among gay and bisexual men in particular, apparently through sexual contact, both in the U.S. and abroad.

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The CDC held a call Tuesday with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the U.K. Health Security Agency to alert doctors about the spread of a form of the bacterium that is resistant to all typically recommended antibiotic treatments.

Read more here from NBC News.


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