[Comparative study of the virulence of the Shigella isolated from bacterial carriers and from acute dysentery patients].

The authors present the results of study of the virulence of shigellae isolated from carriers and patients suffering from acute dysentery, on a continuous culture of E1 and Hep-2 cells. The virulence of shigellae isolated from carriers displayed no significant difference from the virulence of shigellae isolated from patients with a mild and moderately severe forms of dysentery. In the patient's organism shigellae were capable of retaining the initial virulence for a long time, despite the treatment and the influence of the macroorganism's protective factors. The authors believe that this was connected with the capacity of Shigellae to parasitic life in the cells of human intestinal epithelium, and, apparently, played a definite role in the formation of carrier state.