The researchers who conducted this study also say that, with the amount of food-borne illness here at home, the long-term consequences of gastrointestinal disorders among civilians also bears a closer look.

Soldiers deployed who had dystentery or diarrhea were about six times more likely to develop functional diarhhea later, this presentation says.

This is post-deployment disorder which had not been identified previously as one which could affect the soldier over a lifetime.

Why? That is the next question.

Medpage Today

“Troops who suffered a bout of infectious gastroenteritis while serving — as in dysentery or diarrhea — are more likely than others to suffer longer-term bowel disorders, researchers said here.

“These servicemen and women were about six times more likely to develop subsequent functional diarrhea, and about four times as likely to have irritable bowel syndrome later on, Mark Riddle, MD, of the Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Md., and colleagues reported at the American College of Gastroenterology meeting here.

“Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury are common postdeployment disorders,” Riddle said, “but functional bowel problems are a significant burden as well.”

“He said that among the top reasons for visits to Veterans Affairs hospitals, gastrointestinal disorders rank fourth, and 30% of forces get diarrhea each month as a result of bacteria they’re exposed to.”

Source: Medpage Today, October 29, 2009

Citation: Meeting Presentation, American College of Gastroenterology.
Riddle M, et al “Post-infectious functional gastrointestinal disorders in the U.S. Military” ACG 2009; Abstract 1.