Prevalence of Lyme Disease Attributable to Military Service at the USMA, West Point NY: FY2016-2018.

CONCLUSIONS: While this study was unable to capture the military specific occupational exposure to I. scapularis, it does show a difference in period prevalence between service members and family members with the family members being at higher risk to contract Lyme instead of service members as is commonly suggested in the literature. Additional studies may be conducted to see if this holds true across service member Military Occupational Specialties as a proxy for occupational exposure. Similar studies should be conducted at military installations situated in Lyme endemic areas to determine if these results are comparable across the military or specific to West Point. Future research should attempt to identify all the service member protective factors against Lyme with attribution to permethrin-treated uniforms and other military interventions designed to defend soldiers against vector-borne diseases. PMID: 31247105 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Military Medicine - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Mil Med Source Type: research