Shigella species
Increasing resistance of Shigella species (Shigella spp.)to therapy drugs has been reported, which has now been declared as a public health threat by the World Health Organization (WHO). A recent study on Shigella spp. from Victoria demonstrated that rates of resistance to therapy drugs was high and attributed to two-MSM lineages. A recent outbreak of multi-drug resistant (MDR) Shigella spp. in Northern Australia has demonstrated that the mobile genetic elements associated with the MDR seeing in the MSM-lineages can move into Australian endemic lineages and impacting vulnerable populations.
Projects
National snapshot of XDR Shigella species and implementation
Aim: Establish a national surveillance system for Shigella spp. and integrate onto AusTrakka.
- To transition national surveillance protocols onto AusTrakka (e.g. typing and AMR tools).
- To integrate Shigella spp. surveillance with public health agencies.
- Undertake national snapshot over a 12-month period to unravel genomic epidemiology and XDR Shigella spp. and identify transmission clusters.
