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Updated: Dec 10, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancements in Understanding and Combatting Shigella Infections
Published on: February 9, 2024
Feasibility of containing shigellosis in Hubei Province, China: a modelling study
Jia Rui1, Qi Chen2, Qiuping Chen3
1State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, 4221-117 South Xiang'an Road, Xiang'an District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province, People's Republic of China.
Background:
The transmission features and the feasibility of containing shigellosis remain unclear among a population-based study in China.
Methods:
A population-based Susceptible - Exposed - Infectious / Asymptomatic - Recovered (SEIAR) model was built including decreasing the infectious period (DIP) or isolation of shigellosis cases. We analyzed the distribution of the reported shigellosis cases in Hubei Province, China from January 2005 to December 2017, and divided the time series into several stages according to the heterogeneity of reported incidence during the period. In each stage, an epidemic season was selected for the modelling and assessing the effectiveness of DIP and case isolation.
Results:
A total of 130,770 shigellosis cases were reported in Hubei Province. The median of Reff was 1.13 (range: 0.86-1.21), 1.10 (range: 0.91-1.13), 1.09 (range: 0.92-1.92), and 1.03 (range: 0.94-1.22) in 2005-2006 season, 2010-2011 season, 2013-2014 season, and 2016-2017 season, respectively. The reported incidence decreased significantly (trend χ2 = 8260.41, P < 0.001) among four stages. The incidence of shigellosis decreased sharply when DIP implemented in three scenarios (γ = 0.1, 0.1429, 0.3333) and when proportion of case isolation increased.
Conclusions:
Year heterogeneity of reported shigellosis incidence exists in Hubei Province. It is feasible to contain the transmission by implementing DIP and case isolation.

