Long-Term Shigella-Carrier State

Abstract

ALTHOUGH long-term asymptomatic carrier state and excretion of salmonellae^{1 , 2} and Vibrio cholerae ^{3 , 4} are well documented, little is known of long-term excretion of shigella organisms. This report describes two patients, an institutionalized mentally retarded child and a prison inmate,* who were true long-term carriers of Shigella sonnei and S. flexneri 2a, respectively, after clinical infection.Case ReportsCase 1. A 17-year-old boy with psychomotor retardation who had been institutionalized since 1960 at Rosewood State Hospital was ambulatory but incapable of intelligible speech. In December, 1967, he had dysentery due to Group B shigella. Antibiotics gave a swift clinical response, and stool . . .