1. Short report: impact of traveler's diarrhea on United States troops deployed to Thailand.
- Author
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Beecham HJ 3rd, Lebron CI, and Echeverria P
- Subjects
- Antibodies, Bacterial analysis, Bacterial Infections diagnosis, Campylobacter Infections diagnosis, Campylobacter Infections immunology, Campylobacter jejuni isolation & purification, Diarrhea therapy, Disease Outbreaks, Feces microbiology, Humans, Infusions, Intravenous, Military Personnel, Thailand epidemiology, Travel, United States ethnology, Diarrhea epidemiology
- Abstract
Among a United States military unit of 170 personnel deployed to Utapao, Thailand for a three-week training exercise, 40% experienced diarrheal disease, and 12% sought medical treatment for diarrhea. Most illness clustered within the first two weeks of arrival and individuals were ill an average of 3.6 days. Fifty-five percent of cases lost two days of work and 15% required treatment with intravenous fluids. Bacterial pathogens were recovered from 38% of 16 stools submitted, with Campylobacter jejuni the most common. Four (12.5%) of 32 persons who voluntarily submitted paired sera exhibited a four-fold increase in IgG antibody titer to C. jejuni. Traveler's diarrhea continues to be an important problem with a serious potential to impact the mission readiness of even small military units deployed overseas.
- Published
- 1997
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