A 71-year-old woman presented with altered level of consciousness foll
owing episodes of diarrhea and abdominal pain. Shigella sonnei was lat
er cultured from her stool. Although neurological complications, prima
rily seizures, have been reported sequelae in children afflicted with
shigellosis, there are only rare cases of encephalopathy in affected a
dults. A brief discussion of the neurological complications of Shigell
a infection and the yet undetermined role of Shiga toxin in producing
neurotoxicity are presented. (Copyright (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Comp
any)