Open AccessA Study on the Leptospirosis Outbreak Among US Marine Trainees in Okinawa, Japan☆
Author(s) -
Joy Dierks,
Tammy Servies,
Tai Do
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
military medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1930-613X
pISSN - 0026-4075
DOI - 10.1093/milmed/usx013
Subject(s) - leptospirosis , outbreak , medicine , attack rate , environmental health , military personnel , confidence interval , epidemiology , doxycycline , demography , veterinary medicine , geography , antibiotics , virology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , archaeology , sociology
The US Marines operate the Jungle Warfare Training Center (JWTC) in Northern Okinawa, where leptospirosis is endemic. The JWTC endurance course involves prolonged fresh and stagnant water exposures in a simulated jungle warfare environment. Since a leptospirosis outbreak in 1987, JWTC has required prophylactic use of doxycycline at 200 mg weekly during exposure to the endurance course. This policy is based on a 1982 study in a similar environment in Panama. In August and September of 2014, an outbreak of leptospirosis occurred among 81 Marines training at JWTC. We analyzed data from the largest reported outbreak of leptospirosis among US military members.
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