Shigella flexneri bacteremia: A case report

Shigella bacteremia occurs so rarely that blood culture is useless for the laboratory diagnosis of dysentery. S flexneri type 2 was isolated from a blood culture of a 3-year-old boy with clinical diagnosis of dysentery. A stool culture was negative for not only shigella but also other pathogenic bacteria. This was the only shigella-positive blood culture during the last 12½ years although more than 1,200 cases of bacteriologically proven dysentery were encountered.

One of the 4 bottles inoculated with 2 blood samples drawn on the 4th day of illness yielded numerous shigella and few Klebsiella pneumoniae colonies on subculture. On admission the patient was a moderately nourished boy with body temperature of 38℃. The leukocyte count was 10,200/µl with 29% neutrophils. No evidence of septicemia was noted. He was placed on antibiotics and fluid replacement. The patient was discharged in 6 days after full recovery.