Skip directly to site content Skip directly to search
U.S. flag An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

NOTE: A surveillance case definition is a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease for public health surveillance. Surveillance case definitions enable public health officials to classify and count cases consistently across reporting jurisdictions. Surveillance case definitions are not intended to be used by healthcare providers for making a clinical diagnosis or determining how to meet an individual patient’s health needs.

CSTE Position Statement(s)

  • 09-ID-57

Clinical Description

An illness of variable severity characterized by diarrhea, fever, nausea, cramps, and tenesmus. Asymptomatic infections may occur.

Laboratory Criteria For Diagnosis

Isolation of Shigella from a clinical specimen

Case Classification

Probable

A clinically compatible case that is epidemiologically linked to a confirmed case.

Confirmed

A case that meets the laboratory criteria for diagnosis. When available, O antigen serotype characterization should be reported.

Comments

For users of the legacy National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS), laboratory-confirmed isolates are also reported via the Public Health Laboratory Information System (PHLIS), which is managed by the Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC. The National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) or NEDSS compatible systems will eventually replace PHLIS; users of NEDSS or compatible systems which report to CDC should not report via PHLIS.

Both asymptomatic infections and infections at sites other than the gastrointestinal tract, if laboratory confirmed, are considered confirmed cases that should be reported.

The 2005 case definition appearing on this page was re-published in the 2009 CSTE position statement 09-ID-57. Thus, the 2005 and 2010 versions of the case definition are identical.

Related Case Definition(s)