Dysentery

Dysentery is an infectious disease associated with with severe diarrhea. In the United States, signs and symptoms are normally mild and usually disappear within a few days. Most people will not seek medical attention. If a person seeks medical help for dysentery in the U.S., however, the authorities must be informed. It is a notifiable disease. Each year worldwide, there are between 120 million and 165 million cases of Shigella infection, of which 1 million are fatal. Over 60 percent of these fatalities are children under 5 years old in developing countries.