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Start free with EleplanShigellosis
ORPHA:810Disease
What it is
A rare bacterial infectious disease characterized by dysentery caused by Shigella. There are four species (S. dysenteriae, S. flexneri, S. boydii and S. sonnei), all of which cause bacillary dysentery and are strictly limited to human hosts. Affected individuals present with dysenteric syndrome with 10-30 glairy, bloody and watery stools per day, a high temperature (40°C), abdominal pain/cramps and tenesmus following an incubation period of 2-3 days.
Key facts
- Prevalence
- 1-9 / 100 000 (annual incidence, Europe)
- Age of onset
- All ages
- Inheritance
- Not applicable
- Classified as
- Disease
Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.
Signs and symptoms
Common30–79%
9Sometimes5–29%
11- Abscess
- Acute colitis
- Bloody diarrhea
- Failure to thrive in infancy
- Febrile seizure (within the age range of 3 months to 6 years)
- Hypoglycemia
- Hyponatremia
- Hypovolemic shock
and 3 more in this range
Rare1–4%
22- Acute kidney injury
- Arthritis
- Bacteremia
- Cholestasis
- Conjunctivitis
- Corneal ulceration
- Hemolytic-uremic syndrome
- Hepatic failure
and 14 more in this range
These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.
ICD-10 codes
Cross-references
Orphadata Science: Free access data from Orphanet. © INSERM 1999. Data version 2026-06-23. Available under CC BY 4.0. This is a reference, not medical advice.
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