Prevalence and Virulence Genes of Shigella spp. Isolated from Patients with Diarrhea in Rosario, Argentina

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and virulence factors of Shigella species isolated from patients with diarrhea. Shigella species were isolated from 1,022 stool samples collected from different hospitals in Rosario, Argentina. The isolates were characterized using phenotypic tests, serotyping, and detection of virulence genes by PCR. One hundred strains (9.8% of samples collected) of Shigella were isolated. Shigella flexneri was the most frequently identified species (74%), followed by S. sonnei (26%). S. flexneri was also the predominant species isolated from children aged 6-14 years. These clinical strains of Shigella were then tested for the presence of ipaH, virA, ial, sen, and set using specific primers. virA was present in all strains, whereas ipaH was detected in 98% of strains and ial in 83%. sen was found in 71.6% of S. flexneri and 42.3% of S. sonnei isolates, and 41.9% of S. flexneri isolates were positive for set. Furthermore, 32.4% of S. flexneri isolates were positive for both set and sen. This study provides data on the prevalence and distribution of diverse Shigella strains.