Accepted for publication 27 February 1994.
Shigellosis is extremely rare below the age of six months.
Before this age, infants are highly resistant to shigellosis, probably due to changes in intestinal flora of breast-fed children. This resistance has been believed to be due to the presence of specific antibodies in breast milk1 or perhaps because of the short transit time that Shigella is carried in an adult's stool. Thus, the presence of the organism at delivery is uncommon. A 2.5 kilogram female was born at 38 weeks' gestation to a mother who had a history of diarrhea with fever for one week prior to delivery. The baby was delivered vaginally and had Apgar scores of 6 and 8 at the one and five minutes respectively.