HIV Prevention England is hosting an upcoming shigella webinar and providing free shigella posters and leaflets, as well as links to further information relevant to the public, patients and health care professionals.
Your contribution is very important in helping us to recognise cases and raise awareness of how shigella is transmitted.
Please cascade these resources among your networks.
Background
Colleagues will be aware that surveillance by the UKHSA has detected a rise in cases of extremely antibiotic-resistant Shigella sonnei infections, mainly in gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). Shigella consists of bacteria that cause intestinal infection resulting in symptoms ranging from mild to severe (including diarrhoea, fever, and abdominal pain). In most cases symptoms subside within a week, but some individuals need hospitalisation and require intravenous antibiotic treatment.
Transmission occurs via the faecal-oral route through direct contact with an infected person, or exposure to contaminated surfaces, food or water. In the UK cases are increasingly via sexual transmission (direct oral-anal contact, oral sex after anal sex or play, including fingering or use of sex toys).
Shigella webinar: Tuesday 12 April, 1pm
The webinar ‘Shigella Trends in England’ will take place at 1pm on Tuesday 12 April. It will be hosted by HIV Prevention England with colleagues from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH).
The webinar will explore the latest shigella trends in England, including qualitative observations of people who had experienced illness with shigella.
This webinar will be of interest to a wide range of professional groups including those who work in primary care, emergency departments, sexual health, microbiologists, pharmacists, commissioners of services and health protection teams.
Register your webinar place in advance.
The webinar will be recorded and uploaded to the HIV Prevention England website shortly afterwards.
Raising awareness and resources for patients and the public
Shigella awareness campaign and resources
From Monday 11 April, the ‘Maybe It’s Shigella’ awareness campaign will return, inviting those experiencing symptoms to consider whether shigella could be the cause. We are asking organisations to participate in this latest phase of the campaign by ordering your free shigella awareness resources now.
Key messages
Have you experienced a bad case of diarrhoea after sex? It could be shigella. It is often mistaken for food poisoning and is caught from bacteria in poo getting into your mouth during sex.
Find out about shigella and what are the causes, signs and symptoms. Learn how to protect yourself and what to do if you think you have caught it after sex.
Posters and patient leaflets are available via the HIV Prevention England portal.
Download assets for your social media channels [zip]
Download campaign posts and links [docx]
Queries
The public can find out more information about shigella and get advice on other related topics at Sexwise or by calling the free National Sexual Health Helpline at 0300 123 7123.
Information about shigella
Both the Sexwise and the NHS choices web page on dysentery has further information on symptom management and preventing transmission and re-infection.
Resources and information for professionals
The resources and information detailed below are available for professionals:
Resources for sexual health and HIV services: Working with partners, BHIVA has produced a slide set and poster for Sexual Health and HIV services to educate their teams and networks about the management of shigellosis and combine available information in a single resource.
NHS choices has further information on dysentry, including symptom management and preventing transmission and re-infection.
If you have any questions, please email [email protected]