April 18, 2024 Cases of extremely drug-resistant Shigella in Europe
April 18, 2024
April 9, 2024 Belgium informed the ECDC about the increase in the number of infections due to Shigella sonney extremely drug resistant (XDR), with a total 31 cases from January 2024. Of these, 27 were men, one of them participated in the Darklands festival. The festival took place in Antwerp, Belgium from 27 February to 4 March 2024 and is an event targeting gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), with an international target group.
After Belgium’s warning, four more EU countries reported cases of infection Shigella among GBMSM associated with the Darklands Festival in Antwerp: Germany (2), Ireland (2) and the Netherlands (1). In addition, Denmark reported one case linked to travel to Belgium before 11 March 2024, but with an unclear link to the festival.
Sequencing results from a Belgian case linked to the Darklands festival point to the same XDR strain Shigella which has previously been reported between GBMSM in several EU and EEA countries, with transfers between countries to begin in late 2022.
One of the two cases identified in Ireland, who reported attending the Darklands festival in Belgium a few days before the onset of symptoms, has a different sequence profile. However, it exhibits multidrug resistance to commonly used antimicrobials.
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