Like other members of the genus, S. boydii is a nonmotile, nonsporeforming, rod-shaped bacterium which can cause dysentery in humans through fecal-oral contamination.

[1][page needed] Shigella boydii is the most genetically divergent species of the genus Shigella.

[2] There are 19 known serotypes of Shigella boydii.

[3][4][5] S. boydii is restricted to the Indian subcontinent.

[4] The species is named after the British bacteriologist John Boyd.