Prevention of the development and importation of infections in members of the Army of the Czech Republic participating in foreign missions

Overview

Over the last years, Czech soldiers became involved in several foreign missions. In 2001–2003 more than 4000 persons participated in such missions. Since their activities are typically associated with high health risks including that of acquiring infectious diseases, the significance of prevention is underlined. Preventive antiepidemic measures taken in soldiers of the Army of the Czech Republic before their deployment and upon return home are described. Prior to being dispatched on a foreign mission any soldier is screened at the department for occupational diseases at the military hospital. Such a screening enables to identify persons with impaired health who are unfit for the mission. Upon return home any soldier is screened for infectious diseases. The scope of the screening varies with geographical area where the mission took place. In the case of missions to areas at high epidemiological risk such as Afghanistan and Iraq, substantially enlarged laboratory screening is conducted with an emphasis on serodiagnosis of infectious diseases. An important step in the prevention of infectious diseases is vaccination prior to mission deployment. The vaccination schedule has developed over years to currently include vaccination against tetanus, viral hepatitis A and B, typhoid fever, type A and C meningococcal meningitis and poliomyelitis and is being further modified in agreement with the latest recommendations and known risks. Soldiers can also be vaccinated against other diseases such as influenza and rabies. The prevention of infectious diseases as described in this article is based on travel medicine applied to the military environment.

Key words:
infectious disease – prevention and importation – vaccination – foreign mission – Army of the Czech Republic.