Skip to content
Welcome, thoughtbot's Giant Robots listeners!Start here
Pandemics and Biosecurity
22OCT

Dutch XDR Shigella hit 22% of samples

2 min read
16:36UTC

Extensively drug-resistant Shigella rose from 1 of 58 tested Dutch samples in 2018 to 24 of 109 in 2023, a Eurosurveillance analysis found, and the study ties those strains to transmission inside the Netherlands.

← Back to Ebola travels to Kenya and NigeriaJump to analysis ↓
ScienceAssessed
Key takeaway

Extensively resistant Shigella reached 22% of tested Dutch samples by 2023, linked to domestic spread.

Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Shigella, a bacterium that causes severe dysentery, rose from 1 of 58 tested samples in the Netherlands in 2018 to 24 of 109, or 22.0%, in 2023, a national analysis in Eurosurveillance, the European disease-surveillance journal, reported on 15 October⁠1. XDR strains resist the standard first- and second-line antibiotics, leaving doctors few tablets that still work.

Of 1,731 cases with data, 42.3% reported recent contact with men who have sex with men, and those cases were more likely to carry an XDR strain and to sit in a cluster⁠2. The study links XDR strains to domestic transmission rather than travel. WHO's global surveillance report in June found one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide resistant to first-line antibiotics.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Shigella is a bacterium that causes dysentery: diarrhoea, often with blood, stomach cramps and fever. It spreads through tiny amounts of faeces, including during sex. Most people recover without treatment, but severe cases need antibiotics. Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains survive the usual tablets, leaving doctors few options. A Dutch study found these strains are now common and spread mainly inside the Netherlands, not brought back by travellers.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Shigella needs very few bacteria to cause infection, so it spreads easily through sexual contact as well as through food and water. That turns sexual networks into an efficient route for resistant strains.

In the Dutch networks the study describes, men may receive repeated antibiotic courses for other sexually transmitted infections, which selects for bacteria that survive the common drugs.

When most cases come from domestic chains, a strain no longer needs fresh imports to persist; it maintains itself inside the country.

What could happen next?
  • Consequence

    Dutch sexual-health clinics may add Shigella testing and advice to routine checks for men in high-risk networks.

  • Risk

    Domestic transmission of extensively resistant strains means cases will continue without new imports.

Sources:Eurosurveillance
Mentions:Shigella →Netherlands →England →UKHSA →Eurosurveillance →
First Reported In

Update #15 · Ebola travels to Kenya and Nigeria

Eurosurveillance· 22 Oct 2026
Read original →
Different Perspectives
Pan American Health Organization
Pan American Health Organization
PAHO warned on 20 October that El Niño is set to intensify as the dengue season begins, and issued a regional screwworm alert on 16 October. It wants veterinary and human health workers reporting into one surveillance system.
UK Health Security Agency
UK Health Security Agency
UKHSA links three Salmonella Enteritidis clusters to imported eggs and has two large importers under investigation without naming either. Its sequencing led the Food Standards Agency to recall eggs from Kyiv producer Yasensvit.
ECDC
ECDC
ECDC says Europe's West Nile season affected a broader area than any before and calls Germany's first local Sindbis virus case not unexpected, since the virus was already found in German mosquitoes and birds. It cautions that missing clade data limit how far Europe's clade I mpox rise can be read.
Ghana Ministry of Health
Ghana Ministry of Health
Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh declared a yellow fever outbreak in the Upper West Region after a Dakar laboratory confirmed three cases, all of whom died. Ghana plans an emergency vaccination campaign in three districts this month.
Government of Côte d'Ivoire
Government of Côte d'Ivoire
Spokesperson Amadou Coulibaly reported 23 yellow fever cases and 11 deaths in Bounkani on 14 October and said the country holds more than 400,000 vaccine doses. He did not say how many cases were laboratory-confirmed, which leaves the outbreak's true size unclear.
World Health Organization
World Health Organization
WHO says no cause has been found for the Irkutsk technician's death and a laboratory-associated exposure cannot be fully excluded. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged states to finish the pathogen-sharing annex that holds the Pandemic Agreement back from signature.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.