A community waterborne outbreak of gastro-enteritis attributed to Shigellasonnei

An outbreak of gastro-enteritis occurred in a community of 2213 persons loc ated near the city of Ioannina, in North-western Greece. Two hundreds and e ighty-eight inhabitants of the village of Eleoussa, suffered from gastro-en teritis between 11 and 22 October. The peak of the epidemic occurred during the first 3 days (11-13 October). The highest risk of developing gastro-en teritis was observed in the age group 0-14 years (41.4%) and decreased sign ificantly with age (P < 0.01). Patients over 65 years were more frequently hospitalized than those in other age groups (P < 0.05). Shigella sonnei was isolated from both, water samples and faeces of patients. Control measures were implemented on the second day of the outbreak. Environmental conditio ns suggest that contamination of the water system occurred by groundwater.