[Shigella bacteremia. Report of three cases]

Shigella bacteremia is very uncommon, although it is known to occur in Shigella infection. Three cases of Shigella flexneri bacteremia are reported, two of them diagnosed at the Residencia Ntra. Sra. de Aránzazu of San Sebastián, and another at the Ciudad Sanitaria Francisco Franco of Barcelona. In spite of the frequency of Shigella infections in Spain, no cases of Shigella bacteriemia had been heretofore reported from our country. One of the patients was an alcoholic woman who died in coma and renal failure. The other two cases were children who had an uneventful recovery. Stool cultures were positive for Shigella flexneri in two of the three patients. In the third the bacillus could not be isolated from the stools in spite of three consecutive cultures.