Characteristics of shigellosis outbreaks in the AP of Vojvodina

Abstract

Shigellosis causes around 165 million infections and around 1 million deaths in the world every year. Two thirds of both infections and deaths are among children younger than 10. Shigellosis mainly spreads by direct or indirect contact, but water- and food-borne outbreaks are not rare. A descriptive epidemiological method was used to analyse characteristics of shigellosis outbreaks in the AP of Vojvodina in the period 1979-2005. During this period 9.083 shigellosis infections were registered, 51,9% of them in 202 shigellosis outbreaks. The leading way of transmission was contact, but water- and food-borne outbreaks were also detected The average number of infections in contact outbreaks of shigellosis was small--6.3 infections. The highest average is in water-borne outbreaks--55.1. Most of the outbreaks were those occuring in families (47.5%) and most of them were registered in august. Shigellosis has been mandatory reported in the AP of Vojvodina since 1945 and results of outbreak investigation of this disease were analyzed since 1979. In the first half of this period water was the most common way of agent transmission in shigellosis outbreaks, but in recent 15 years the contact became the leading one. In the last 5 years there was no water-borne shigellosis outbreaks. Almost one third of all outbreaks were imported from Montenegro and Croatia by tourists coming back from those countries. Most of the outbreaks are small outbreaks occuring in families, primarily transmitted by contact. Outbreaks in facilities for care of disabled children and elders are also important. Sh. sonnei and Sh. flexneri are the two serotypes identified, the former in 57.4% and the latter in 40.1% outbreaks. Shigellosis is a disease occurring in the AP of Vojvodina primarily in small outbreaks inside families, transmitted by contact, most often in August and more often caused by Sh. sonnei. Health promotion and strict use of general measures of disease control and prevention are important.