Forty-five people in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox communities in Williamsburg and Borough Park have contracted a mild infectious disease called shigella since August, according to city health officials.
Each year, New York City has between 300 and 400 cases of the disease, which frequently crops up in day care centers and other places where children congregate. The majority of those affected in this latest outbreak were also children.
No one has been hospitalized, city health department officials said.
The main symptom is diarrhea. It can become serious among patients with other underlying conditions, but that is relatively rare.
The health department has asked doctors not to use antibiotics to treat shigella because drug-resistant strains of the bacteria may be starting to spread.
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