Complications

Shigella infection usually clears up without complications. But it may take weeks or months before your bowel habits return to normal.

Complications may include:

• Dehydration. Constant diarrhea can cause dehydration. Signs and symptoms include lightheadedness, dizziness, lack of tears in children, sunken eyes and dry diapers. Severe dehydration can lead to shock and death.
• Seizures. Some children with a shigella infection have seizures. Seizures are more common in children who run a high fever, but can occur in children who do not have a high fever. It's not known whether the seizures are a result of the fever or the shigella infection itself. If your child has a seizure, contact your doctor immediately.
• Rectal prolapse. In this condition, straining during bowel movements or inflammation of the large intestine may cause the mucous membrane or lining of the rectum to move out through the anus.
• Hemolytic uremic syndrome. This rare complication of shigella, more commonly caused by a type of E. coli bacteria than by shigella bacteria, can lead to a low red blood cell count (hemolytic anemia), low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) and acute kidney failure.
• Toxic megacolon. This rare complication occurs when your colon becomes paralyzed, preventing you from having a bowel movement or passing gas. Signs and symptoms include stomach pain and swelling, fever and weakness. If you don't receive treatment for toxic megacolon, your colon may break open (rupture), causing peritonitis, a life-threatening infection requiring emergency surgery.
• Reactive arthritis. Reactive arthritis develops in response to an infection. Signs and symptoms include joint pain and inflammation, usually in the ankles, knees, feet and hips; redness, itching and discharge in one or both eyes (conjunctivitis); and painful urination (urethritis).
• Bloodstream infections (bacteremia). Shigella infection can damage the lining of the intestines. In rare cases, shigella bacteria can enter the bloodstream through the damaged intestinal lining and cause a bloodstream infection.