Epidemiological Investigation of a Bacillary Dysentery outbreak among Residents of an Aboriginal Village

Donald Dah-Shyong Jiang

2007 Vol.23 NO.2

Correspondence Author： Donald Dah-Shyong Jiang

Abstract：

From November 18 to December 4, 1995, an outbreak of bacillary dysentery occurred among residents of an aboriginal village in Maoli County. After conducting a field epidemiological investigation, a total of 12 cases of bacillary dysentery were identified, with one of the cases being asymptomatic. These 12 cases were all aborigines of the Tai-Ya tribe. Four of them were males and 8 were females. The age distributions were between 4 to 77 years old, with a median of 15. Among those 11 symptomatic cases, diarrhea was the main symptom (100.0%), followed by abdominal pain (45.6%), headache (27.3%), and vomiting (9.1%). Since the epidemic cure of disease onset date for symptomatic cases was irregularly distributed, together with the epidemiological links between cases and their relatives or neighbors, it is concluded that the occurrence of bacillary dysentery outbreak was the result of human-to-human contact transmission. The infection resolved quickly after the administration of therapeutic and prophylactic antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin for adults and Azithromycin for children) to the cases and their close contacts,
disinfection of the community, and health education.