Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases: challenges and opportunities for militaries.
The communal nature of living and training environments, alongside suboptimal hygiene and stressors in the field, place military personnel at higher risk of contracting emerging infectious diseases. Some of these diseases spread quickly within ranks resulting in large outbreaks, and personnel deployed are also often immunologically naïve to otherwise uncommonly-encountered pathogens. Furthermore, the chance of weaponised biological agents being used in conventional warfare or otherwise remains a very real, albeit often veiled, threat. However, such challenges also provide opportunities for the advancement of preventive and therapeutic military medicine, some of which have been later adopted in civilian settings. Some of these include improved surveillance, new vaccines and drugs, better public health interventions and inter-agency co-operations. The legacy of successes in dealing with infectious diseases is a reminder of the importance in sustaining efforts aimed at ensuring a safer environment for both military and the community at large.
Biodefence Centre, Headquarters of the Medical Corps, Singapore Armed Forces, 701 Transit Road, #04-01, Singapore, 778910 Singapore.
Zheng Jie Marc
ZJ
Ho
Biodefence Centre, Headquarters of the Medical Corps, Singapore Armed Forces, 701 Transit Road, #04-01, Singapore, 778910 Singapore.
Yi Fu Jeff
YF
Hwang
Biodefence Centre, Headquarters of the Medical Corps, Singapore Armed Forces, 701 Transit Road, #04-01, Singapore, 778910 Singapore.
Jian Ming Vernon
JM
Lee
Communicable diseases; Emerging; Infectious disease medicine; Military personnel