A Diarrhea-Causing Superbug Is on the Rise, Health Officials Warn

Gird your toilets, everyone: superbug strains of Shigella bacteria, a common diarrhea-causing infection, are becoming a larger problem. Federal and state health officials detailed the trend in a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since 2011, they found, an increasing percentage of Shigella cases documented nationwide have shown extensive resistance to all commonly used antibiotics. More needs to be done to prevent, track, and develop treatments against this growing public health danger, they warn. “[Extensively drug-resistant] Shigella infection is an emerging concern in the United States,” the authors wrote in their paper, published late last week in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Antibiotic resistance has become a widespread public health threat over time. Antibiotic resistant bacteria are now estimated to kill over 1.2 million people worldwide every year. By 2050, that annual death toll could reach 10 million, putting it on par with yearly cancer deaths. Though there are many kinds of superbug bacteria out there, extensively drug-resistant, or XDR, Shigella might be one of the most worrying ones. These bacteria can resist