ABSTRACT
Shigella spp. are the causative agent of shigellosis or “bacillary dysentery,” and has been implicated in many worldwide foodborne outbreaks annually. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Emerging Infections Program (EIP), Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), Shigella was the third most reported foodborne bacterial pathogen in the United States in 2002. Humans, and possibly higher primates, have been the only identiŠed hosts of this pathogen, and transmission occurs via the fecal-oral route. A common route of contamination with Shigella in foods is by an infected food handler who practices poor personal hygiene. Shigellosis outbreaks usually involve large numbers of individuals, and the outbreaks can linger due to the fact that Shigella can be carried asymptomatically.1 Shigella is acid resistant, salt tolerant, and can survive at infective levels in many types of foods, such as fruits and vegetables, low pH foods, prepared foods, and foods held in modiŠed atmosphere packaging or vacuum packaging. Survival is often increased when food is held at refrigerated temperatures. Detection methods for Shigella include conventional culture methods, immunological methods, and molecular-based methods. Conventional culture of Shigella in foods is often problematic due to the lack of appropriate selective media. Immunological methods for Shigella have been researched, yet there is only one commercially available test kit. Molecular microbiological methods such as PCR, oligonucleotide microarrays, and rep-PCR have also been developed for the detection and identiŠcation of Shigella. This chapter reviews Shigella classiŠcation,
morphology, epidemiology, clinical features, pathogenesis characteristics, prevalence, growth and survival, and methods for the detection of Shigella in food.
