Shigellosis

Treatment

If you have a mild case of shigellosis, you probably will not need treatment because your symptoms probably will go away on their own even before the results of your stool cultures are available. Sometimes, antibiotics are given if there are very young or very old members in a household who could get the infection.

If you have a severe case of shigellosis, your doctor will prescribe fluids to treat dehydration and will choose an antibiotic based on how you became infected. For example, if you acquired shigellosis in the United States, your infection probably will respond to common antibiotics such as ampicillin (Polycillin, Totacillin, Omnipen), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim, Septra and other brand names), tetracycline (sold under many brand names), or ciprofloxacin (Cipro). However, if you became infected during travel to a developing country, the infecting strain of Shigella is more likely to be resistant to these common antibiotics, and you may need a newer or less commonplace antibiotic.

The use of antidiarrheal medicines that slow the bowel movements is controversial. It can take longer to clearthe bacteria from the lower intestine and the illness caused by the infection could become more severe.