Structural and mutational characterisation of Shigella Pathogenicity Factors

Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Naturwissenschaften (Dr. rer. nat.) im Fachbereich Pharmazie der Philipps-Universität Marburg. - "Bacillary dysentery, an acute inflammatory bowel disease, is caused by enteroinvasive bacteria of the genus Shigella. After oral uptake the bacteria reach the colon, where they have the capacity to invade the colonic and rectal epithelium in humans, thereby causing the acute mucosal inflammation that characterises the disease. This destructive recto-colitis is responsible for the dysenteric symptoms.Shigellosis is spread all-over the world, even though only 1.5 million of the 165.7 million annual cases occur in industrialised countries. The vast majority takes place in developing countries, often epidemically, with a death rate of 1.1 million p.a. Shigellosis is mainly a disease of impoverished people which in about 69 % (112.6 million) of all cases and 61 % (660.000) of all fatalities affects children between the ages of one and five years. "