Shigella, the most important cause of Bacillary dysentery, that is bloody diarrhea,I repeat BLOODY diarrhea with mucus and all caused by a bacilli which is..shigella. Next time you find dark, almost bloody poo poo in the toilet after a few days of watery diarrhea, severe abdominal cramps and fever, you might guess the cause to be Shigellosis.
Coming to the classification of strains of Shigella, thank the holy God that it is short and sweet ; they can all be differentiated by biochemical reactions as described below or by Slide agglutination test which is basically reacting the sample with antisera which contains antibodies against the peculiar antigens of each serogroup or simply strains.
1. Shigella dysenteriae- the most deadly of all
2. Shigella flexneri- the most common of all
3. Shigella boydii- causes mild disease
4. Shigella sonnei- found in DEVELOPED countries and quite different from the others
Briefly, the pathogenesis of Bacillary dysentery is such that the bacilli cause damage to the submucosal cells, produce deadly toxins both endotoxins and exotoxins, which can affect as far as your brain, which is quite far...from your gut.
Your doctor might suggest to take a sample of your poo poo and not just rectal swabs to make a diagnosis of the disturbing pathogen.
And if you notice and guess correctly that you are suffering from shigellosis, do yourself a favour and drink ORS which is basically water, salt and sugar and go to your doc to get appropriate antibiotics to get rid of them nasty bacilli.
Mind you that there are other causes of bacillary dysentery such as entero-invasive E. coli, Vibrio parahemolyticus, Campylobacter.
Happy studying β€οΈ
