Shigellosis

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Abstract
OPINIONS differ on the most appropriate course of therapy for shigellosis because of conflicting evidence in the literature concerning the efficacy and possible hazards of specific antibiotic therapy. Proponents of specific chemotherapy note that the efficacy of antimicrobial agents in shigellosis is well established.1Moreover, several studies have shown that antibiotics will notably decrease the excretion of shigellae in the stools and abbreviate the clinical course of both mild and severe disease.2,3Those opposed to specific therapy except in certain special cases argue that the disease is self-limited and usually mild, that strains have repeatedly emerged resistant to whatever antibiotic happened to be in vogue at the time, and that this resistance has frequently been R factor-mediated, resulting in organisms resistant to multiple antibiotics. These viewpoints have recently been summarized.4 The clinician responsible for deciding whether to prescribe or withhold antimicrobial therapy in an individual case

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