[Isolation of provisional serovars of Shigella in diarrheal cases of tourists].

Twenty-four Shigella strains of provisional serovars were isolated from travellers with diarrhea during 1993-2000 at Osaka Airport- and Kansai Airport-Quarantine Station. The outline of these cases were as follows. 1) The provisional serovars of these strains (number of cases) were S. dysenteriae 93-119 (2), S. dysenteriae 204/96 (4), S. dysenteriae I9809-73 (4), S. flexneri 88-893 (9), and S. boydii E16553 (5). 2) Symptoms of these cases were diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, and vomiting. The ratios of each symptom were 100%, 50%, 50%, and 29.2%, respectively. Typical dysentery symptoms (mucous and bloody stool) were observed in three cases. 3) In six cases (25.0%), plural kinds of entero-pathogenic bacteria were isolated, and in four cases, two kinds of Shigella serovar (known and unknown type) were isolated. 4) The major regions where these travellers were infected was South-west Asia (79.2%). 5) Twenty-three of the Shigella strains (95.8%) of the provisional serovars were resistant to two or more drugs tested (SM, CP, TC, KM, ABPC, NA, and OFLX). The most predominant drug resistance pattern was SM. CP. TC. ABPC.