The Director of Pasteur Institute Hechmi Louzir said on Thursday, December 22, 2022, that 160 cases of infection with Shigella have been recorded so far in Tunisia, adding that the number of infections has not increased over the past week.

Pasteur Institute has identified 160 patients with Shigella, most of them recovered and one died last month, namely an 8-year-old girl whose health deteriorated before her hospitalization, according to the same source.

He said the Primary Health Directorate and the National Observatory for New and Emerging Diseases reviewed all Shigella cases to find out whether the infections are due to water, food, or other factors, adding that the causes of the infection have not been determined and are still unknown.

Louzir pointed out that Shigella is a dangerous bacterium because of its fast contagion and its resistance to antibiotics, adding that it causes severe diarrhea and leads to serious complications among children, such as fever, stomach pain and nausea.

"It spreads through contaminated food or water," he explained.