Health officials report an alarming increase in the number of toddlers infected with the shigella bacteria, leading to dangerous symptoms, including diarrhea, often bloody, fever and stomach cramps.

It is most commonly found among toddlers not totally toilet trained and nursing homes. Food can become contaminated by soiled fingers, caused by the lack of proper hand-washing, or from vegetables irrigated in fields with sewage water [a practice unfortunately not uncommon in PA areas], or ingesting contaminated water.

At times, the diarrhea can become so server that it demands hospitalization. The bacteria is usually treated with antibiotics but at times, the bacteria is resistant and physicians are compelled to provide support of integral bodily functions and wait until it passes.

Most of the cases reported in Israel of late were found in the Greater Tel-Aviv/Sharon region.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)