Drug-Resistant Stomach Bug Gains a Foothold in the U.S.

The kinds of bacteria that can cause diarrheal ailments such as food poisoning lurk all around us. These germs, which include Escherichia coli and Shigella, can be especially easy to pick up when traveling internationally, as well as in places, such as a children’s day care, that are hard to keep clean. In April the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an outbreak of Shigella sonnei that has become resistant to ciprofloxacin—one of the last remaining medications in pill form that can kill that pathogen. Since then, a Scientific American investigation shows the worrisome strain is still circulating in the U.S. a year after it first emerged.

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