Imported shigellosis: aerogenic Shigella boydii 74 (Sachs A 12) in a traveller followed by two cases of laboratory-associated infections.

During their holiday in Tunesia two members of a family developed severe dysentery which prompted hospitalization of one of them after their return to Germany. Shigella boydii 4 was isolated from a stool culture. From another, healthy family member an aerogenic, mannitol negative strain of S. boydii 14 (formerly Sachs A 12) was isolated which subsequently infected a laboratory technician when she was handling the fecal specimen. A second laboratory infection due to this organism occurred while performing the Serény test of pathogenicity. Both persons developed a severe dysenteric syndrome. The increasing problem of imported shigellosis in the Federal Republic of Germany and the particularity of gas-production in Shigella strains are discussed.