How to cope with Shigella illness on holiday

Shigella sonnei is a bacterial infection causing symptoms of sickness and diarrhoea, which is becoming more common among holidaymakers.

Although shigella causes sickness and diarrhoea, the infection can also lead to dysentery, a more serious gastric infection which results in severe symptoms of sickness and diarrhoea and dehydration if left untreated.

The incubation period for shigella can range between 1-7 days – meaning some holidaymakers may contract the bacterial illness and not produce symptoms until they return home.

Different gastrointestinal illnesses contracted on holiday often produce similar symptoms and are contracted in similar ways – either through contact with someone who is infected or via the faecal-oral route. Infected food and water or cross contamination from cooking or serving utensils at a hotel buffet can also lead to shigella infection.

The symptoms of shigella infection – which is a relative of salmonella – include:

• Stomach cramps
• Fever
• Headache
• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea – often severe
• Blood, mucus or even pus in stools
• Shivering
• Dehydration
• Weight loss
• Trapped wind
• Seizures in young children.

When symptoms of sickness and diarrhoea first start, many holidaymakers reach for loperamide-containing medications such as Immodium to prevent diarrhoea. The over-the-counter medication domperidone can also help prevent vomiting.

Drink plenty of water – still lemonade can also help prevent sickness – and only eat plain foods such as toast, baby rusks, rice cakes, crackers or plain biscuits until your appetite returns. Avoid alcohol and caffeine containing drinks as these may speed up dehydration.

If symptoms of sickness and diarrhoea become worse or do not improve over the course of 24 hours, it is time to seek medical help before dehydration sets in.

Holidaymakers should alert their holiday representative that they are ill – and ask to see a doctor, if possible, for a diagnosis, which should be carried out using a stool sample.

In holiday resorts this may not be carried out, however, and you should be wary of taking antibiotics without a diagnosis of the specific infection you are suffering from. You can phone your GP surgery in the UK for advice if you need medical or hospital treatment on holiday and are unsure about the treatment.

Always see your GP on returning home for a diagnosis of traveller’s diarrhoea, as you may need further treatment to clear the specific infection you have been suffering from.