Burden of Shigella infection in children under five years living in a peri-urban area of Ouagadougou…

Cohort studyPLoS neglected tropical diseases· Aug 2026

Burden of Shigella infection in children under five years living in a peri-urban area of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: A community-based cohort study.

Alimatou Héma, Jean Sawadogo, Ben Idriss Soulama … Sodiomon B Sirima

Pediatric Infection & VaccinationCohort studyQ1IF 3.6

Shigella incidence among children with diarrhea was 39.2 per 1,000 child-months

Burden of Shigella infection in children under five years living in a peri-urban area of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: A community-based cohort study.

Alimatou Héma … Sodiomon B Sirima

PLoS neglected tropical diseases · Aug 2026

Background

Shigella is a leading cause of childhood diarrheal disease and a priority target for vaccine development, particularly in low-resource settings where its true burden is often underestimated.

Methods

We conducted a 12-month longitudinal cohort study enrolling 750 children under five years of age in a peri-urban area of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from December 2020 to March 2021, with follow-up through March 2022.

n = 750 children

Results

shigella incidence was far higher in children with diarrhea than overall

AHR by subgroup · 95% CI

More results

A clear understanding of local Shigella epidemiology and risk factors is essential for guiding control strategies and vaccine introduction.

Shigella was isolated from 56 incident cases, yielding an incidence rate of 6.8 cases per 1,000 child-months (95% CI: 5.3-8.9).

More results

Shigella flexneri predominated (58.9%), followed by S. boydii (23.2%), S. sonnei (14.3%), and S. dysenteriae (3.6%).

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

This study provides foundational incidence and serotype data for Shigella among young children in peri-urban Burkina Faso, informing future vaccine development and targeted public health interventions.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

The findings highlight the need to strengthen water, sanitation, and hygiene programs, improve diagnostic capacity, and enhance antimicrobial resistance surveillance to reduce Shigella transmission and impact in this population.

Burden of Shigella infection in children under five years living in a peri-urban area of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: A community-based cohort study.

Burden of Shigella infection in children under five years living in a peri-urban area of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: A community-based cohort study.

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