Shigella strains isloated in the Teagu area during the period from 1973 to 1985 were studied for species distribution, drug resistance, and R plasmids. Approximately 1,200 strains were isolated during this period, and most of them were classified into Shigella flexneri, S. sonnei occupied less than 20%, and S. dysenteriae and S. boydii were very rarely isolated. More than 95% of them were resistant to one or more of these drugs; chloramphenicol (Cm), tetracycline (Tc), streptomycin (Sm), sulfisomidine (Su), ampicillin (Ap), and trimethoprim (Tp). Strains resistant to kanamycin, nalidixic acid (Na), and rifampin (Rf) were rare, and no strain was resistant to cephaloridine, gentamicin, and amikacin. Approximately half of the isolates were resistant to drugs in 1973, but the rate of resistant strains increased to more than 95% from 1977. Strains resistant to the four drugs (Cm, Tc, Sm, and Su) occupied the majority of resistant strains until 1977, but the most prevalent multiplicity of drug resistance increased to six drugs (Cm, Tc, Sm, Su, Ap, and Tp) from 1978 with the marked increase of Ap- and Tp-resistant strains. Approximately 75% of them transferred resistance to Escherichia coli by conjugation, and the resistance was considered to be mediated by R plasmids. Almost all of them transferred the complete patterns of resistance to drugs except Na and Rf. However, among some strains of recent isolates, small numbers of segregants of transferred resistance were observed. The R plasmids in Shigella were mostly classified into Inc FII, and only small numbers into Inc B. Segregants were in most cases unclassified.