[Epidemiology of dysentery in Dagestan].

Analysis of material on bacterial dysentery and other acute intestinal infections morbidity in the Dagestan ASSR for a period of 15 years showed high morbidity level and its variations, with reduction and elevation in individual years, and the leading role played by Shigella flexneri among the causative agents of dysentery. The greatest incidence of dysentery was revealed among children aged under one year and between 1 and 2 years. A high bacterial dysentery incidence was recorded in Dagestan throughout the whole year. However analysis of the seasonal dysentery curve showed the beginning of elevation in July, reaching the maximum in August, and lasting four months with a decline beginning in October. The persisting activity of the water route of dysentery transmission in the Dagestan ASSR requires particular attention to the organization of good-quality water-supply to the population of the republic.