A stomach bug that can spread during s8x and cause violent diarrhoea has been labelled a ‘public health threat’ in the UK
Health officials and experts have warned of the risk posed by Shigella bacteria, which can be spread, among other ways, through sexual contact.
The alarm was raised after it was found to be spreading rapidly among some gay and bisexual men.
The disease is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, a study by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the University of Cambridge warned.
Shigella bacteria are usually found in faeces and contracted through contaminated food, touching contaminated surfaces and then your mouth, and close contact with an infected person.
But cases of Shigella strains being transmitted sexually have been rising steadily in Western countries in the 2000s, so much so that it has been declared endemic in some communities of men who have sex with men.
Symptoms include diarrhoea, cramps and fever. Men who suspect they may have Shigella are advised to visit a sexual health clinic or GP to get tested.
Cases of the disease potentially linked to sexual contact surged to 2,560 last year, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The study found that s3xually transmitted Shigella could spread more quickly than strains spread in other ways.
S.exual contact linked Shigella averaged 72 miles (117km) between strains, while non-STI strains reached just 28 miles (46km).
The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, flagged a gap in public health education as typical advice for Shigella includes handwashing and food hygiene, which are ineffective in targeting sexual transmission.
Professor Kate Baker – senior author of the study from Cambridge’s Department of Genetics – warned that because of the increased antibiotic resistance, ‘we’re in a situation where it’s virtually untreatable with drugs.’
And unlike a quicker vomiting bug or food poisoning, which Shigella is often mistaken for, the illness can last for a week or longer – and k!lls more than 200,000 people annually across the globe.
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