title: Self-reporting compared to prospective surveillance to evaluate the incidence of diarrhea among French Army personnel deployed to N'djamena, Chad.
abstract: Self-reporting seems more appropriate than medical-based surveillance to estimate true incidence of diarrhea during deployment of military troops. Most soldiers self-reported multiple episodes, 42% leading to medical care, mainly the first episode, resulting in a threefold higher incidence. Mathematical models integrating self-reported data should better predict outbreaks during military deployments and define a more complete assessment of disease burden.
authors.affiliation: Département d'Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique Sud, Institut de Médecine Tropical du Service de Santé des Armées, Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées, Marseille, France. marimoutouc@aol.com
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marimoutou
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pommier de Santi
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Attrait
authors.forename: Lénaïck
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ollivier
authors.forename: Rémy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Boutin
mesh_terms: D002596:Chad / Q000453:epidemiology; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires