Short report: impact of traveler's diarrhea on United States troops deployed to Thailand.
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.
Beecham
H J
HJ
Department of Tropical Medicine, Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit No. 6, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 96860-5040, USA.
Lebron
C I
CI
Echeverria
P
P
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous; D008889:Military Personnel; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology; D014195:Travel; D014481:United States / Q000208:ethnology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial