Multidrug resistant epidemic shigellosis in a village in west Bengal, 1984

An out break of acute bacillary dysentery in a village called Dhamasin in Hooghly district of West Bengal was investigated during March 1984. Forty seven percent of families were affected. A total of 91 cases and 2 deaths occurred amongst 937 people giving an over all attack rate of 9.7% and a case fatality rate of 2.2 percent. Highest attack rate (22.7%) was observed in below one year age group. Multiple drug resistant Shigella dysentery type 1 strains were isolated for the first time from 6 out of 22 cases sampled at the domiciliary level. The organism was never isolated earlier during last ten years of surveillance in the infectious Diseases Hospital, Calcutta. Identification of nature of this outbreak and it's causative agent helped to realise the potentiality of extensive spread and paved the way for further investigations. Public health authorities were buffled as the rapid spread of the disease throughout the entire state of West Bengal could not be contained in spite of instituting all probable control measures on war footing.