When possible, young children with a shigella infection who are still in diapers should not be in contact with uninfected children. People who have shigellosis should not prepare food or pour water for others until they have been shown to no longer be carrying the shigella bacterium. If a child in diapers has shigellosis, everyone who changes the child's diapers should be sure the diapers are disposed of properly in a closed-lid garbage can, and should wash his or her hands carefully with soap and warm water immediately after changing the diapers. Basic food safety precautions and regular drinking water treatment prevents shigellosis. At swimming beaches, having enough bathrooms near the swimming area helps keep the water from becoming contaminated.
Simple precautions taken while traveling to the developing world can prevent getting shigellosis.
Drink only treated or boiled water, and eat only cooked hot foods or fruits you peel yourself. Every year, about 18,000 cases of shigellosis are reported in the United States. Because many milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, the actual number of infections may be twenty times greater. Shigellosis is particularly common and causes recurrent problems in settings where hygiene is poor and can sometimes sweep through entire communities. Shigellosis is more common in summer than winter.