Stomach-turning sexually transmitted infection is on the rise — and standard medicines are failing

A highly contagious gut infection that can spread during sex is becoming harder to treat as antibiotic-resistant strains become more common.

An April report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked nearly 17,000 Shigella samples, which causes Shigellosis, which and can bring on diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, collected between 2011 and 2023.

In 2023, 8.5% of Shigella samples with resistance data were classified as extensively drug-resistant, or XDR — resistant to all five antibiotics in the CDC’s definition — compared with none from 2011 to 2015.

The findings point to a growing resistance problem, not a surge in overall infections, noted Dr.

Tyler Evans, a California-based infectious disease physician and CEO of Wellness Equity Alliance.

HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS STOMACH BUG SPREADS FAST, HITTING CERTAIN PATIENTS HARDEST "The infection is not surging.

The bacteria are changing," Evans told Fox News Digital.

"Case counts can hold steady while the treatment options quietly disappear." There is no FDA-approved oral antibiotic for XDR Shigella, he said.

Shigella bacteria can spread when tiny amounts of stool reach someone's mouth, including through contaminated food or water, unwashed hands or sexual activity.

DANGEROUS DRUG-RESISTANT FUNGUS SPREADS ACROSS US, REACHING 27 STATES "Shigella is not considered to be a typical sexually transmitted infection," Dr.

Andi Toufexis, a Texas-based family medicine physician who specializes in sexual health, told Fox News Digital.

"However, this gastrointestinal bacteria can be spread through sex when one partner comes into contact with the other's fecal matter." Shigella is not new, and sexual transmission has been documented since the 1970s, Toufexis said.

What is changing is the growing share of tested samples classified as XDR .

MICHIGAN REPORTS 2 DEATHS IN RARE PARASITE OUTBREAK THAT HAS SICKENED MORE THAN 11,000 The CDC report found that most people with XDR Shigella were adult men.