Updated March 28, 2025

We are pleased to share that the Shigella outbreak that has impacted Edmonton Zone residents since September 2022, was declared over on March 11, 2025, after no new cases were reported in four weeks.

AHS responded to the first reported symptoms on August 17, 2022, with a confirmed diagnosis on August 29, 2022, and an outbreak was declared on September 8, 2022. Throughout the outbreak 448 people were confirmed with Shigella and 309 of those people were hospitalized.

AHS’ response to this outbreak began immediately following the first confirmed case and that work involved connecting with shelters, inner-city agencies, and local family physicians about the growing cluster of cases. A task force was established in in October 2022, and remains active to continue coordinating resources and response between inner-city community partners as needed.

Although the outbreak is over, it is expected that sporadic cases of Shigella may be reported in the weeks and months to come. Heightened surveillance for new cases will continue and AHS remains a resource to those in the community who have questions or concerns.

Anyone with questions or concerns is encouraged to reach out Edmonton Zone Medical Officers of Health at MOH.Edmonton@albertahealthservices.ca.

We are grateful for the hard work AHS teams have put into responding to this outbreak in partnership with stakeholders across our city and province. We also recognize the Government of Alberta’s role in supporting these efforts through ongoing coordination and resources that have strengthened our response. This collaboration will continue during the current phase of enhanced surveillance, which aims to sustain successes and apply lessons learned from this outbreak.