SHIGELLA CARRIERS AMONG NON-DIARRHEAL CHILDREN IN AN ENDEMIC AREA OF SHIGELLOSIS IN BANGLADESH

Shigellosis is endemic in Bangladesh and other developing countries, A symptomatic carriers have been incriminated in the maintenance and spr ead of the disease in the community. To study the incidence of the asy mptomatic carrier state of Shigella, we conducted surveys in two group s of children under 5 years of age. The first group consisted of 249 i ll children who did not have diarrhoea, and the second group consisted of 699 apparently healthy children. The Shigella carrier rate in the first group was 6.4% and that in the second group 2.1%, These carriers may be important in maintaining the transmission of Shigella organism s in the community,