Epidemiology, Etiology, and Impact of Traveler's Diarrhea in Jamaica

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Abstract
Traveler's diarrhea (TD) is a self-limited illness that usually resolves spontaneously within a few days, but it has the potential for wrecking a meticulously planned business or pleasure trip.1 Annually 35 million people travel from industrialized countries to a developing country.2 Among them, TD had an incidence rate of 20% to 50% per 2 weeks' stay in 1979 to 1981,3 but has not been assessed on a global scale since. The increase in travel has resulted in dramatic changes in the tourism industry and put pressure on local infrastructure that might influence the epidemiology of TD. Therefore, we decided to assess the epidemiology and etiology of TD in various tourist destinations on different continents, such as Jamaica, later also in Brazil, India, and Kenya.