Endless diarrhea and exhaustion: the stomach bug making the rounds among the most vulnerable in Canada – CBC

Worse, the bacterial infection is getting harder to treat with antibiotics

Jan 22, 2025

For the past five weeks, Toronto night nurse Keren Elumir has been handing out clean underwear and electrolyte packets at a safe consumption and overdose prevention site in Moss Park.

She’s been seeing more and more people with the telltale signs of a Shigella infection, also known as shigellosis: diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever.

Toronto has an outbreak of 11 confirmed cases, all among homeless people, who don’t always have reliable access to facilities like washrooms.

“You’ll hear people yelling, ‘I gotta go, I gotta go,'” she said. “So we’re trying to make space so people can access the washroom.”

The bacterial infection, one of the main causes of dysentery, spreads easily from person to person through an infected person’s stool. It takes as few as 10 bacteria units on contaminated surfaces, or in food or water, to get someone sick. The bacteria also remains contagious for weeks after episodes of intense diarrhea.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/shigella-infection-canada-1.7437238