Military Medicine: An Everlasting War against Tropical and Infectious Diseases

A special issue of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease (ISSN 2414-6366). This special issue belongs to the section "Travel Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 1571

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1st Armed Forces Medical Center, Fort de Vincennes, Cours des Maréchaux, 75614 Paris, CEDEX 12, France
Interests: military medicine; tropical medicine; travel medicine; clinical toxinology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For centuries, military medicine has always provided significant scientific contributions to tropical medicine and infectious diseases, Alphonse Laveran, Edmond and Etienne Sergent, Ronald Ross, and Alan Magill for malaria, Walter Reed and William Gorgas for yellow fever, William Leishman for leishmaniasis, Léon Lapeyssonnie for the African meningitis belt, Fabrice Simon for Chikungunya, and Eugène Jamot for African Trypanosomiasis, just to cite a few. Despite major advances in hygiene, sanitation, drugs, vaccines, and infection control, infectious diseases still represent approximately 40% of ailments in deployed troops, as these preventive measures can become neglected over time or disrupted during early or most intense stages of military operations. The emergence of novel microorganisms, new variants, antimicrobial resistance, insecticide resistance, climate change, reemerging infectious diseases, as well as the introduction of new microorganisms into new geographic areas due the exponential increase of travel do not make us foresee a substantial improvement in the near future. Moreover, conflicts are still erupting in tropical areas where deployed military healthcare providers are faced with major diagnostic and management difficulties in remote and resource-limited settings with reduced medical evacuation possibilities. In this context, thorough history-taking and clinical examination, as well as the use of rapid diagnostic tests, are critical. As a consequence, recent advances in molecular biology, such as point-of-care multiplex PCR, will surely improve the identification of causative microorganisms in diarrhea or undifferentiated febrile illnesses for instance. In order to facilitate medical support of deployed troops, updates in the epidemiology, prevention, and treatment of tropical and infectious diseases as well as simple management charts are mostly needed. I thus encourage my military colleagues to submit reviews, meta-analyses, and original research regarding the latest data on tropical medicine and infectious diseases.

Dr. Olivier Aoun
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • military
  • malaria
  • leishmaniasis
  • schistosomiasis
  • rabies
  • sexually transmitted infections
  • skin diseases
  • antimicrobial resistance

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

14 pages, 1257 KiB  
Review
Schistosomiasis in the Military—A Narrative Review
by Diana Isabela Costescu Strachinaru, Jemima Nyaboke Nyandwaro, Anke Stoefs, Eric Dooms, Peter Vanbrabant, Pierre-Michel François, Mihai Strachinaru, Marjan Van Esbroeck, Emmanuel Bottieau and Patrick Soentjens
Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2024, 9(9), 221; https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed9090221 - 19 Sep 2024
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Abstract
Schistosomiasis is a parasitosis caused by trematodes of the genus Schistosoma. Humans are infected when coming into contact with freshwater containing the parasites’ infective stages, which are amplified through freshwater-dwelling snails acting as intermediate hosts. Schistosomiasis has posed significant problems for troops [...] Read more.
Schistosomiasis is a parasitosis caused by trematodes of the genus Schistosoma. Humans are infected when coming into contact with freshwater containing the parasites’ infective stages, which are amplified through freshwater-dwelling snails acting as intermediate hosts. Schistosomiasis has posed significant problems for troops exposed to freshwater in endemic regions ever since the Napoleonic wars. Schistosomiasis has substantial differences in clinical presentation, depending on the type of parasite, intensity of infection and reinfection, clinical form, and disease stage. It can remain undiagnosed for long periods of time, with well-known long-term morbidity and mortality risks. The diagnosis of schistosomiasis depends on its stage and relays on several tests, all with limitations in sensitivity and specificity. The diagnostic gold standard is the detection of eggs in urine, feces, or tissue biopsies, but this can raise problems in patients such as military personnel, in which the worm burden is usually low. Praziquantel is the drug of choice for schistosomiasis. Currently, there is no available commercial vaccine against any Schistosoma parasite. Avoiding freshwater exposure is the best prevention. Herein, we review the clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of schistosomiasis in the military. This information may decrease the impact of schistosomiasis on this particular professional group. Full article
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