CDC warns about drug-resistant stomach bug deemed "serious public health threat"

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is tracking a rise in stomach illnesses caused by infections with "extensively drug-resistant" bacteria that leave doctors with few antibiotic options to treat patients. The CDC warns it now poses a "serious public health threat."

Over the past few years, the CDC says there are signs the percentage of Shigella bacteria cases that are resistant to a broad swath of antibiotics has begun to climb steeply around the country. These strains can also spread their resistance genes to other stomach bugs.

Analyses of these bacteria, dubbed XDR Shigella, have shown resistance to all of the typically recommended frontline antibiotic treatments for bacteria: azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and ampicillin.