Bacillary Dysentery
Published Jul 23, 1955 ·
British Medical Journal
0
Citations
0
Influential Citations
Abstract
The classical description of bacillary dysentery which is still enshrined in many medical textbooks depicts an acute illness usually of sudden onset in which the dominant feature is frequent and painful diarrhoea. The stools contain or may consist solely of blood and mucus. Fever and abdominal pain are characteristic and a more or less severe prostration is common, so that the reader gains the impression that the disease is a severe one. So far as Great Britain is concerned such a picture is no longer true, and, although the actual proportion of cases which merit this description may vary from place to place, and from time to time, it must now represent a small minority, and in many patients none of these classical signs is present. Nevertheless bacillary dysentery still has emergency aspects in that outbreaks may disrupt the running of institutions, the infection if undetected in food-handlers may lead to explosive outbreaks, and debilitated infants and old people are likely to be seriously ill if infected.