A cross-sectional analysis of clinical presentations of and risk factors for enteric protozoan Infections in an Active Duty Population during Operation Iraqi Freedom

Abstract

All study participants provided a stool sample, either diarrhea or solid, upon study entry and completed a questionnaire documenting demographic information, clinical symptoms of any prior diarrheal episodes, and health risk behaviors. Study population Individuals were considered eligible for the study if they were active duty military or a military beneficiary, 18 years or older, had received no antibiotic therapy within the 72 h prior to enrollment (excluding malaria prophylaxis), and had been in Iraq for more than 48 h. Only those subjects for whom stool microscopy results and survey data were available were included in the final analysis.