Dysentery is a condition caused by the Shigella bacteria. Sufferers become dehydrated by diarrhea, and 70,000 people, mostly in poor countries, die of it each year. It's treatable, but Shigella is becoming antibiotic-resistant. It's difficult to study this phenomena in the US because dysentery is rare here, but in a challenge trial, volunteers are given the bacteria in order to study the disease.
Georgia Ray volunteered for a challenge trial at the University of Maryland because they were testing a bacteriophage treatment regimen, which she had studied, and because it paid well. Sixteen volunteers were isolated in a university building ad given the bacteria Shigella flexneri. Half were also dosed with the bacteriophage, but the subjects did not know whether they were given the treatment or a placebo. Soon, they suffered joint pain, chills, projectile vomiting, and diarrhea. Ray spent nine days in the facility before she was cleared to go home. She was never in danger of dying, as there were medical personnel monitoring the subjects constantly, but it was no picnic, either. Read the account of her experience and learn a lot about dysentery and bacteriophages at Eukaryote Writes Blog. -via Nag on the Lake
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