Microscopic view of Shigella sonnei (Public Domain)

Habitat

 Where is its humble abode? 
Shigella
sonnei lives in  low pH environments like the human intestinal tract. The ideal temperature Shigella sonnei infections around the world (Public Domain)for this organism is 37 degrees Celsius which is about the temperature of the human body.  It can survive in fecal matter, but only for a short period of time. It is known to have survived up to seven weeks on soiled linen. In freshwater environments, Shigella sonnei can survive up to five days. In saltwater environments, this organism can survive anywhere from 12 hours to 30 hours. The picture above shows the distribution of Shigella sonnei infection across the world. There are very high rates in undeveloped nations such as Africa and southern Asia.  

Species Distribution
There are many different organisms that live in the human intestine. E. coli and Salmonella are two major bacterial infections, but there are also parasitic infections such as Giardia. In the graph Rate of Shigella (Public Domain)below, it shows the distribution of each type of Shigella in a high infectious area. Shigella sonnei gradually has become more pervalent over the years, where as every other type of Shigella has decreased or stayed low for the most part.

Age Distribution
The table below shows the distribution of the Shigella sonnei infection by age. As you can see, children younger than five are the most viable for the infection because they are not toilet trained and Rates of Shigella sonnei in age (Public Domain)they are always around other children, which can spread the infection. The infection rate for six to ten year olds is about a third of the risk of younger children. This rate decreases so quickly because these children are almost all toilet trained and are normally enrolled in a more structured educational system then just playing which tends to spread less germs.

 

Now that we have seen globally where Shigella is located, lets take a look at its' adaptations!

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