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http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080416/NEWS03/804160433/-1/newsfront
April 16, 2008

Bacterial illness reported among children in Monsey

Jane Lerner
The Journal News

MONSEY - Health officials are tracking an outbreak of a highly contagious bacterial disease among young children who attend private Jewish schools and day care centers.

A total of 67 cases of shigellosis have been reported so far this year, Rockland Commissioner of Health Dr. Joan Facelle said today. No cases of the infectious disease were reported during the same period last year.

A small number of cases started in January, with the majority of the infections occuring in the past three or four weeks, she said.

"We're been out in the community, talking to the schools, to the rabbis, the families," she said. "We're using a multi-pronged approach to get the information out there."

Most of the people who have the diseases live or attend school in the Monsey area, she said.

The bacteria that cause the disease are present in the diarrheal stools of people who are infected while they are sick and for up to a week or two afterwards. Most shigella infections are the result of the bacterium passing from stools or soiled fingers of one person to the mouth of another person.

Lack of hand washing and a failure of basic hygiene -particularly among toddlers who are not fully toilet-trained -causes the disease to spread from person to person.