We conducted a retrospective cohort study that tested 2,000 US military personnel for Coccidioides antibodies in a disease-endemic region. The overall incidence of seroconversion was 0.5 cases/100 person-years; 12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Travelers' diarrhea (TD) is one of the most common illnesses affecting modern-day travelers, including military personnel. Previous work has shown that afflicted travelers may alter their itineraries and be confined to bed rest due to symptoms, and military personnel may become incapable of completing operational requirements. Examination of signs, symptoms, and severity of diarrheagenic pathogens can inform clinical diagnosis and prioritization of future surveillance and research activities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFU.S. military personnel must be ready to deploy to locations worldwide, including environments with heightened risk of infectious disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman adenoviruses (AdV) are mostly associated with minimal pathology. However, more severe respiratory tract infections and acute respiratory diseases, most often caused by AdV-4 and AdV-7, have been reported. The only licensed vaccine in the United States, live oral AdV-4 and AdV-7 vaccine, is indicated for use in the military, nearly exclusively in recruit populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman adenovirus type 55 (HAdV-55) causes acute respiratory disease of variable severity and has become an emergent threat in both civilian and military populations. HAdV-55 infection is endemic to China and South Korea, but data from other regions and time periods are needed for comprehensive assessment of HAdV-55 prevalence from a global perspective. In this study, we subjected HAdV-55 isolates from various countries collected during 1969-2018 to whole-genome sequencing, genomic and proteomic comparison, and phylogenetic analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFinfections are uncommon in immunocompetent hosts. We report 6 cases of infection in young, healthy Naval Special Warfare trainees in San Diego during 2 consecutive El Niño seasons, defining a unique population at risk and adding to the epidemiologic understanding of this potentially virulent organism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemoprophylaxis with intramuscular benzathine penicillin G has been used widely by the U.S. military to prevent epidemics of group A streptococcus infections during basic training.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn estimated 179 million cases of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) occur each year in the U.S. and AGE is commonly reported within both training and deployed U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMilitary personnel deployed to the Amazon Basin are at high risk for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). We responded to an outbreak among Peruvian Army personnel returning from short-term training in the Amazon, conducting active case detection, lesion sample collection, and risk factor assessment. The attack rate was 25% (76/303); the incubation period was 2-36 weeks (median = 8).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMuch debate exists regarding the need, acceptability, and value of humanitarian medical assistance. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 457 children under 5 years from four remote riverine communities in the Peruvian Amazon and collected anthropometric measures, blood samples (1-4 years), and stool samples. Focus groups and key informant interviews assessed perspectives regarding medical aid delivered by foreigners.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Microbiol
February 2015
Acid-fast bacillus (AFB) spinal osteomyelitis in a patient with AIDS is often presumed to be caused by reactivated Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, other AFB pathogens can mimic M. tuberculosis and, to ensure appropriate and adequate therapy, should be considered by clinicians.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSevere malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax is no longer considered rare. To describe its clinical features, we performed a retrospective case control study in the subregion of Luciano Castillo Colonna, Piura, Peru, an area with nearly exclusive vivax malaria transmission. Severe cases and the subset of critically ill cases were compared with a random set of uncomplicated malaria cases (1:4).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe evaluated the efficacy of three primaquine (PQ) regimes to prevent relapses with Plasmodium vivax through an open-label randomized trial in Loreto, Peru. Vivax monoinfections were treated with chloroquine for 3 days and PQ in three different regimes: 0.5 mg/kg per day for 5 days (150 mg total), 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Plasmodium vivax is a predominant species of malaria in parts of South America and there is increasing resistance to drugs to treat infections by P. vivax. The existence of latent hypnozoites further complicates the ability to classify recurrent infections as treatment failures due to relapse, recrudescence of hyponozoites or re-infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-treponemal tests such as the rapid plasma reagin (RPR) assay are mainstays of syphilis diagnosis, but false-positive tests are common. We identified false-positive RPR titers in 8.2% of patients with malaria due to Plasmodium vivax in northern Peru.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDomestic farm animals (n=145) were sampled for the presence of ectoparasites in northwestern Peru during March, 2008. Ninety domestic animals (62%) were positive for the presence of an ectoparasite(s) and produced a total collection of the following: 728 ticks [Amblyomma maculatum, Anocentor nitens, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, and Otobius megnini], 12 lice (Haematopinus suis), and 3 fleas (Ctenocephalides felis). A Rickettsia genus-specific qPCR assay was performed on nucleic acid preparations of the collected ectoparasites that resulted in 5% (37/743, 35 ticks and 2 fleas) of the ectoparasites positive for the presence of Rickettsia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn South America, various species of Leishmania are endemic and cause New World tegumentary leishmaniasis (NWTL). The correct identification of these species is critical for adequate clinical management and surveillance activities. We developed a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and evaluated its diagnostic performance using 64 archived parasite isolates and 192 prospectively identified samples collected from individuals with suspected leishmaniasis enrolled at two reference clinics in Lima, Peru.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Trop Med Hyg
September 2012
Leishmania species of the Viannia subgenus are responsible for most cases of New World tegumentary leishmaniasis. However, little is known about the vectors involved in disease transmission in the Amazon regions of Peru. We used a novel real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to assess Leishmania infections in phlebotomines collected in rural areas of Madre de Dios, Peru.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe widespread use of primaquine (PQ) and chloroquine (CQ), together, may be responsible for the relatively few, isolated cases of chloroquine-resistant P. vivax (CQRPV) that have been reported from South America. We report here a case of P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVector-borne infections (VBI) are defined as infectious diseases transmitted by the bite or mechanical transfer of arthropod vectors. They constitute a significant proportion of the global infectious disease burden. United States (U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Most epidemiologic studies of tick-borne rickettsial diseases in the United States are small and have limited demographic scope, making broader risk assessment difficult.
Methods: We conducted a seroprevalence study of spotted fever group rickettsiae and Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis. Specimens were selected randomly from the Department of Defense Serum Repository for 10,000 diverse military personnel at various stages in their careers who were serving with active duty status in 1997.