Dysentery is an infectious disease that has ravaged armies and prisoner-of-war camps throughout history. The disease still is a major problem in tropical countries with primitive sanitary facilities. Refugee camps in Africa resulting from many civil wars are major sinks of infestation for dysentery.
The acute form of dysentery, called shigellosis or bacillary dysentery, is caused by the bacillus (bacterium) of the genus Shigella, which is divided into four subgroups and distributed worldwide. Type A, Shigella dysenteriae, is a particularly virulent species. Infection begins from the solid waste from someone infected with the bacterium. Contaminated soil or water that gets on the hands of an i…
Another form of dysentery called amebic dysentery or intestinal amebiasis is spread by a protozoan, Entamoeba histolytica. The protozoan occurs in an active form, that which infects the bowel, and an encysted form, that which forms the source of infection. If the patient develops diarrhea the active form of amoeba will pass from the bowel and rapidly die. If no diarrhea is present the amoeba will …
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