Incidence, clinical implications and impact on public health of infections with Shigella spp. and entero-invasive Escherichia coli (EIEC):results of a multicenter cross-sectional study in the Netherlands during 2016-2017

Background: Shigella spp. and entero-invasive E. coli (EIEC) use the same invasive mechanism to cause diarrheal diseases. Public health regulations apply only to Shigella spp. infections, but are hampered by the lack of simple methods to distinguish them from EIEC. In the last decades, molecular methods for detecting Shigella spp. and EIEC were implemented in medical microbiological laboratories (MMLs). However, shigellosis cases identified with molecular techniques alone are not notifiable in most countries. Our study investigates the impact of EIEC versus Shigella spp. infections and molecul... Mehr ...