UK sees rapid spread of antibiotic-resistant shigella

A sexually transmitted form of the bacterial gut infection shigellosis is spreading more than twice as fast as other strains in the United Kingdom and is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, posing a distinct and urgent public health threat, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warn that the disease, which causes severe diarrhoea, stomach cramps, and fever, is now a sustained part of transmission within the country and is evolving into a virtually untreatable superbug.

The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, analysed 3,514 samples of Shigella bacteria collected across the UK between 2004 and 2020. It found that sexually transmitted strains, which predominantly affect gay and bisexual men, spread an average distance of 117 kilometres over approximately two and a half years. In contrast, non-sexually transmitted strains spread only 46 kilometres in the same timeframe. The research also revealed a sharp rise in antibiotic resistance among these sexually transmitted variants. Approximately 70 percent of sexually transmitted cases were resistant to at least one clinically relevant...