Shigella flexneri bacteraemia

Shigellosis is usually a non-invasive enteric disease, rarely accompanied by extra-intestinal manifestations. Shigella septicaemia is therefore reported in a child aged 10 months. In the laboratory the organism was resistant to ampicillin and only moderately susceptible to chloramphenicol. The patient responded well to cotrimoxazole to which the organism isolated was susceptible in vitro. We recommend that blood as well as faeces should be cultured in exceptionally ill patients with suspected or otherwise confirmed shigella infection.