Epidemiology and associated microbiota changes in deployed military personnel at high risk of traveler's diarrhea.

ABSTRACT: Travelers' diarrhea (TD) is the most prevalent illness encountered by deployed military personnel and has a major impact on military operations, from reduced job performance to lost duty days. Frequently, the etiology of TD is unknown and, with underreporting of cases, it is difficult to accurately assess its impact. An increasing number of ailments include an altered or aberrant gut microbiome. To better understand the relationships between long-term deployments and TD, we studied military personnel during two nine-month deployment cycles in 2015-2016 to Honduras. To collect data on the prevalence of diarrhea and impact on duty, a total of 1173 personnel completed questionnaires at the end of their deployment. 56.7% reported reduced performance and 21.1% reported lost duty days. We conduc

SUBMITTER: Walters WA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7423091 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature