Infectious disease surveillance among deployed military personnel: Needs and opportunities for real-time febrile illness surveillance

摘要

Surveillance networks such as GeoSentinel and TropNetEurop conduct global infectious disease surveillance using travel and tropical medicine clinics, which contribute clinical information during or after travel. These networks have published data characterizing the spectrum of disease associated with travel to specific regions of the world and among specific groups of travelers, informing post-travel patient evaluation and pre-travel health advice. Military forces constitute an international traveler population that presents unique opportunities for global infectious disease surveillance. Health data collected during or after military deployment may become part of the patient's longitudinal medical record, enabling assessments of predeployment health status and vaccinations on deployment-related risks. In some countries, there is near-complete capture of military medical encounters as military personnel receive care almost exclusively in a military or national health system.