According to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) released on Tuesday, international travelers are returning to the U.S. with a multidrug-resistant intestinal illness and spreading it among the population.
The CDC is reporting that between May 2014 and February 2015, Shigella sonnei bacteria, which is resistant to Cipro (ciprofloxacin) sickened 243 people in 32 states and Puerto Rico.
Large clusters of the illness were investigated by the CDC and public health officials in three states, California (25), Massachusetts (45), and Pennsylvania (18). Investigators found that nearly 90 percent of the cases tested were resistant to ciprofloxacin.
Cipro is the first antibiotic of choice in treating Shigellosis, which spreads very quickly through childcare facilities, the homeless and gay and bisexual men, all of which did occur in the outbreaks.
In a news release, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said, “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.” He added, “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.”
Shigella infections are not usually fatal, according to the CDC, but they are spread easily. In the most recent outbreaks, about one-fourth the cases required hospitalization. Patients usually end up with nausea and vomiting, along with sometimes severe and occasionally bloody diarrhea.
But to show just how widespread the illness can be, annually in the U.S., about 500,000 people come down with the disease. Nearly 5,500 people are hospitalized and the illness causes the death of around 40 people.
Shigella in the U.S. has also been found to be resistant to the antibiotics ampicillin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole X, even as shigella’s resistance to Cipro is growing. Interestingly, Cipro is prescribed to people traveling internationally.
But now, the CDC says more studies will be needed to discover the role, if any, that taking antibiotics while traveling out of the country has on increasing a person’s risk of contracting an antibiotic-resistant bacterial illness.
Dr. Anna Bowen, M.P.H., a medical officer in CDC’s Waterborne Diseases Prevention Branch and lead author of the study said, “Washing your hands with soap and water is important for everyone. Also, international travelers can protect themselves by choosing hot foods and drinking only from sealed containers.”
