The epidemiological, clinical, and bacteriological aspects of shigellosis were studied in a population of hospitalized children in northern Israel. Shigellosis invades epithelial cells of the colon and causes inflammation a severe cases of diarrhea and dysentery.

Below is a table that lists the frequencies of two different species of Shigella: S. sonnei and S. Flexneri between hospitalized and non-hospitalized Jews and Arabs.

Table II. Frequencies of S. sonnei and S. flexneri among hospitalized children and non-hospitalized patients, according to ethnic grouping Hospitalized Non-hospitalized Population Organism children (%) patients (%) P Jews S. sonnei 137/168 (81.5) 1,633/1,859 (87.8) 0.026 (2,027) S. flexneri 24/168 (14.3) 163/1,859 (8.8) 0.027 Arabs S. sonnei 56/94 (59.6) 140/179 (78.2) 0.002 (273) S. flexneri 30/94 (31.9) 32/179 (17.9) 0.013