Description of the situation
24 January 2000
Disease Outbreak Reported
An outbreak of dysentery was confirmed in November from samples collected in the western area of the country caused by Shigella flexneri. On 29 December 1999, Shigella dysenteriae type 1 (Sd1) was isolated in one of six stool samples at the Institut Pasteur laboratory in Paris. Both strains were senstive to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin. Two more cases of Sd1 were confirmed on 19 January in Moyamba District (southern area) and Koinadugu District (northern area). Reports from 6 December 1999 to 16 January provided by the Ministry of Health give a total of 3094 cases of shigellosis with 132 deaths (CFR 4.27).
The outbreak appears to be spreading and a rapid epidemiological assessment of the situation is being planned through a WHO mission to the affected areas.