Warning over highly contagious 18th-century disease on rise in US state

A highly contagious disease from the 18th-century is alarmingly on the rise in one US state.

Cases of dysentery, also called shigellosis, are hiking up in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon, according to the Multnomah County Health Department.

The two strains of the disease that have been found in the state are resistant to several antibiotics.

Both strains cause severe diarrhea. Recently, local health officials have not seen the strain that can cause more severe sickness and even death, KOIN

Dysentery causes diarrhea, vomiting, cramps and fever and can jump from an infected human to another who comes in contact with fecal matter.

There were 40 dysentery cases reported in January, according to the county health department. Last year, there were 158 cases, up from 96 in 2023, 43 in 2022, and 36 in 2021. There was a spike of cases – 87 – in 2020, but 33 in 2019, 58 in 2018 and only 19 in 2017. The cases have been on the uptick since 2012.

Among those infected lately, more than half, or 56% of cases were in homeless individuals and 55% were in people who used methamphetamines or opiates.

‘When you don’t have housing, it is harder to prevent infectious disease and harder to access care to treat disease compared to if you are housed,’ stated the health department.

‘The rise in Shigella cases over recent years is concerning and is a result of multiple pathways of transmission.

‘Investments made in public health are critical for monitoring and slowing the spread of disease.’

Oregon Health & Science University’s medical director for infection prevention and control, Dr John Townes, said the spread of dysentery can be stopped by providing more public toilets and handwashing stations.

‘If you want to stop an outbreak of shigella, you give people toilets and soap and water,’ Townes told The Oregonian.

‘And you train them in how to wash their hands.’

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