The CDC reports a rising national threat from drug-resistant Shigella infections in the United States, with no FDA-approved oral treatment available.

Shigella spreads mainly through fecal-oral transmission, sexual contact, and contaminated food or water, and typical symptoms include diarrhea (which can be bloody), fever, and stomach cramps, usually starting one to two days after exposure and lasting five to seven days.

Most cases resolve without treatment, but antibiotics are used for severe illness or to curb transmission in high-risk settings, and prevention centers on rigorous hand hygiene and avoiding contaminated water and crowded environments.

Readers seeking more information are encouraged to visit the New Jersey Department of Health website.

Two researchers from the Pennsylvania Department of Health contributed to the CDC study, while state-specific numbers for Pennsylvania and other states have not been released.

The data show that most affected individuals are adult men with a median age around 41, and among those who traveled, a large majority did not travel internationally recently.

Georgia notes that its health department does not track exact annual Shigella numbers within the state.

Young children, especially those in childcare, people in crowded living conditions, and individuals with limited access to clean water and toilets (including the homeless) are among the most at risk.

Preventive measures emphasize thorough hand hygiene, safe food and water practices when traveling, avoiding sexual contact with sick individuals, and for travelers to certain regions, taking precautions to avoid contaminated foods.

Pennsylvania's guidance calls for rigorous hand hygiene, careful diaper handling, disinfecting changing areas, preventing diarrhea spread in childcare, supervising children's handwashing, and avoiding food handling by those ill; travelers are advised to boil, cook, peel, or avoid certain foods in certain regions.

New Jersey guidance includes thorough handwashing, disinfecting diaper-changing areas, avoiding swimming while ill, and consuming only treated or boiled water and cooked foods when traveling to developing countries.

Most XDR Shigella cases have occurred in adult men, with about one-third of patients hospitalized, reflecting a shift from earlier outbreaks that affected children.