Public Health – Seattle & King County partnered with the Washington State Department of Health and the Washington State Public Health Lab to pilot population-based genomic surveillance of reported shigellosis at the county-level for one year. We found that the pilot was feasible and useful at the local level, given dedicated funding support.
At a glance:
- Between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025, whole genome sequencing was attempted on all cultured Shigella isolates from King County, Washington.
- 162 Shigella isolates were sequenced, nearly 95% of the 171 successfully cultured isolates.
Key outcomes of this pilot were:
- Expansion of genomic surveillance experience and capacity among participating staff
- Insight into baseline local genomic diversity of Shigella in King County
- Development of an analysis pipeline to predict antimicrobial resistance from sequencing information
- Increased skills and experience among participating epidemiology teams using pathogen genomic similarity to inform case linkage decisions.