CDC Warns Shigella as "Serious Public Health Threat"

The CDC says it is tracking a rise in stomach illnesses caused by infections with "extensively drug-resistant" bacteria that leave doctors with few antibiotic options to treat patients. The CDC warns it now poses a "serious public health threat." Over the past few years, the CDC says there are signs the percentage of Shigella bacteria cases that are resistant to a broad swath of antibiotics has begun to climb steeply around the country. Analyses of these bacteria, dubbed XDR Shigella, have shown resistance to all of the typically recommended frontline antibiotic treatments for bacteria. Outbreaks of Shigella bacteria often spread through contaminated food and water, via surfaces, or through sex. Symptoms of the disease it causes, a form of dysentery named shigellosis, include fever and diarrhea. Read more from CBS here.