Europe confirms eight Shigella bacteria infections in Spain as another 22 are investigated

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has confirmed eight cases and is studying another 22 possible Shigella sonnei bacteria infections in Spain.

The Spanish cases are men aged between 18 and 56 years old and their infections are linked to an outbreak that emerged in the United Kingdom that has already affected 208 people in ten European countries.

Shigella sonnei is a bacterium that infects the digestive system and can cause diarrhoea, with symptoms similar to gastroenteritis, but it is more contagious. The disease is more common in developing countries and is transmitted by the faecal-oral route.

The ECDC warns that this outbreak has spread among men who have had sex with other men and links it to risky sexual practices and said that there is a "high" possibility that there may be more infections in Europe in the coming months, once the restrictions put in place to curb Covid-19 are lifted and contacts and travel increase. In addition, the ECDC has said that the infection is resistant to treatment. The European body explained that the disease usually has mild symptoms, except in immunosuppressed people.