Kansas Hits a Seven-Year High With 71 Shigellosis Cases as Drug Resistance Grows
A Seven-Year High in Kansas
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has recorded 71 shigellosis cases so far in 2026, the highest annual total since at least 2020, according to the state's reportable infectious disease dashboard. Local station KSNT 27 News first reported the numbers on Oct. 12, and the story moved nationally within a day. The year-by-year record: 18 cases in 2020, 56 in 2021, 31 in 2022, 68 in 2023, 70 in 2024 and 54 in 2025. This year has already edged past the 2024 peak.
What the Illness Is and How It Spreads
Shigellosis is an intestinal infection caused by Shigella bacteria. The CDC says it spreads through contaminated food or water, contact with an infected person or their stool, and sexual contact. It is not a new virus and it is not classified as a classic sexually transmitted infection — but the sexual route is the one drawing the headlines this time.
Cases Cluster in Two Metro Regions
The Kansas City Star, citing an Oct. 7 update, reported 33 cases in the south-central region, 23 in the Kansas City metropolitan area and 9 in northeast Kansas. KDHE said the bulk of this year's cases fall in those two clusters, with nearly 30 in Sedgwick County alone, home to Wichita. By month, July was the peak with 15 cases, September had 5, and October has already recorded 1.
The National Picture Is Flatter
The Bigger Worry Is Resistance
Five Antibiotics and No Good Fallback
Under the CDC's definition, extensively drug-resistant Shigella resists all five antibiotics in the reference panel: ampicillin, azithromycin, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The agency also notes there is currently no FDA-approved oral antibiotic specifically for those cases, leaving clinicians with limited options. Researchers have linked the rise of azithromycin resistance in Shigella to prescribing shifts elsewhere: when the UK dropped azithromycin from its national gonorrhea guidelines, azithromycin resistance in Shigella slowed.
Who Is Most at Risk
The CDC says anyone can be infected, but children under five, gay and bisexual men, and people experiencing homelessness face higher risk. In Ohio, the state health department reports more than 68% of this year's cases are among men. Family medicine and sexual health physician Dr. Andi Toufexis told Fox News Digital that Shigella "is not considered to be a typical sexually transmitted infection," but can spread through sex when one partner comes into contact with the other's fecal matter. Internist Dr. Michael Aziz urged anyone who suspects infection to see a doctor before taking anti-diarrheal medication such as Imodium: "You want to flush out the bacteria."
Other States Are Rising Too
What Health Officials Recommend
The CDC's advice comes down to three points: wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; avoid sexual activity while infected and for at least two weeks after diarrhea ends; and seek care for bloody diarrhea or diarrhea lasting more than three days. California's public health department adds that the single best protection against sexual transmission is to avoid sex with anyone who has had diarrhea in the past two weeks, plus barrier methods during oral and anal sex and washing before and after.
What Comes Next
For Kansas, two questions follow the case count. The first is whether infections keep climbing past the 2024 peak. The second is whether surveillance can keep up: Ohio's own health department acknowledges it does not routinely collect the kind of results that would flag a resistant strain. The distribution across south-central Kansas and the Kansas City metro suggests the risk does not stay put in one city. Officials stress this is not a reason for panic — but it is a reason for earlier testing, clearer messaging to the groups most affected, and honest recognition that the standard oral drugs are losing ground.
