A Shigella Infection in Chushan, Nantou County

CS Chiu

1999 Vol.15 NO.9

Correspondence Author：

Abstract：

The purpose of the study is to describe the process of investigation, laboratory testing, and control of a Shigella infection occurred in Chushan of Nantou County in late October 1998. The study also presents laboratory findings of the drug sensitivity test, plasmid profile, and pulsed field gel electrophoresis typing of Shigella strains for the future reference of molecular epidemiology in evidence collection and diagnosis of similar incidents. This Shigella infection had seven confirmed cases of Shigella sonnei in two families and one school. Findings of molecular typing in laboratory of specimens collected from Shigella positive cases and Shigella strains collected from controls showed that the nine strains isolated from Chushan and the one strain isolated from a patient in Puli in May 1998 shared the same drug sensitivity, plasmid, and pulsed field gel electrophoresis profiles. This seemed to indicate that both the Chushan and the Puli cases could have been infected by a common strain. The dates of onset, and the fact that both incidents could have been induced by a common strain indicated that the mode of transmission of the present Shigella infection was through person-to-person contact.