Review on Clinical Evaluation of Herbal and Allopathic Drugs for the Treatment of Infective Diarrheial Diseases (Shigellosis)

Dysentery is characterized by intense abdominal cramps accompanied by frequent and intense diarrhoea with bloody mucous stool. The word dysentery has been derived from Greek words dys and enteron meaning “bad bowels”. Micro-organisms that cause gastrointestinal diseases must survive the harsh acidic environment of the stomach. Shigella spp. and Escherichia coli O104:H4 are gastrointestinal bacteria that do not form special resistant structures but can survive at pH 2.5 for at least 2 hours. Studies with human volunteers have shown that when as few as 10-500 Shigella are ingested, they can survive passage through the stomach and cause dysentery. Over the last three decades, multidrug resistant Shigella was responsible for widespread epidemics of Shigellosis on the Indian subcontinent and in other developing countries, leading to high mortality. As Shigellosis is highly contagious it is crucial to develop a rapid method for eradication of the pathogen in order to limit and control outbreaks.