The city Flint, Michigan faces new outbreak of contagious disease ‘shigellosis’ read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1154-the-city-flint-michigan-faces-new-outbreak-of-contagious-disease-shigellosis

The city of Flint, Michigan, is seeing a rise in cases of a bacterial illness called shigellosis. So far this year, there have been 85 cases of shigellosis in Genesee County, which includes Flint.

A statement from the Genesee County Health Department said that cases of the bacterial illness are up in both the county and the state. In the entire state of Michigan, there were 454 cases of shigellosis this year, and there were 515 cases in 2015.

Shigellosis is a very contagious gastrointestinal disease caused by the bacteria Shigella. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there are about 5,00,000 cases of the illness each year in the United States.

Symptoms include diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain, although it may take several months for people's bowel habits to return to normal after infection.

The Shigella bacteria are spread through contact with fecal matter. People can become infected if they eat food or touch surfaces that have been contaminated with Shigella. Careful hand washing with soap and water can reduce the spread of the disease.

In 2014, the city changed the source of its water supply, and that change resulted in an increase in the water levels of lead. This lead may cause health problems, including rashes, hair loss and neurological issues.

Jim Henry, the environmental health supervisor of Genesee County, said, residents have been using baby wipes to wash their hands because these wipes aren't chlorinated, they don't kill bacteria.

The Genesee County Health Department's encouraged residents to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds each time, particularly after using the bathroom and before preparing food.

If people do not have soap and water, they can use alcohol based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol to prevent the spread of Shigella.