Bacillary dysentery is most common in the tropics, the subtropics, and the Orient.
It can be fatal, especially among children. It can erupt anyplace where sanitation is poor and large groups of people, including carriers of the disease, are crowded together. The disease is spread through the feces of carriers who have the bacteria in their intestines. These carriers may be suffering from diarrhea or dysentery, or they may seem perfectly well and still carry the disease. It is transmitted by eating or drinking from anything contaminated with the bacteria from the feces of these carriers.