Abstract

Shigellosis has continuously posed considerable clinical problems in Korea. Shigella infections are practically always limited to the gastrointestinal tract but occasional infections, although rare, are documented. The authors have isolated 17 strains of shigella from various unusual infection sites at Han Yang University Hospital from Jan. 1983. They are as follows. Eight strains of shigella were isolated from vaginal swab, one of which was S. dysentery and the remainders were S. genitalia. The chief complaints of these patients were vaginal discharge and only one patient showed vaginal spotting. Three of them showed hyperemic external genitalia. All strains were isolated from children under 10 years of age and in winter. Four strains of S. flexneri were isolated from urine and the chief complaints were variable depending upon the underlying diseases. One strain of S. flexneri and one strain of S. sonnei were isolated from bloods and the chief complaints were abdominal pain and hepatosplenomegaly. The remained three strains were S. flexneri and were isolated from throat, umbilical discharge and eye discharge, respectively. There strains were highly susceptible to dibekacin, sisomycin, tobramycin and gentamicin but resistant to penicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin and carbenicillin.