Infectious Disease Rates in the U.S. Navy, 1980 to 1995

Abstract

The significant increase in the number of women serving in the Navy has raised questions concerning the impact of infectious disease risks on women's health during recent years, particularly among those aboard Navy ships. This study examines gender and other demographic differences among all US Navy enlisted personnel with first hospitalizations for infectious and parasitic diseases during 1980 through 1989 (N = 33,334), and it identifies trends in incidence rates across this 10-year time period. All information used in the study was from official personnel and medical records. Varicella and other viruses and chlamydiae accounted for more than 20,000 hospitalizations among Navy enlisted personnel in the 1980s. In 7 of the 12 categories of common infectious diseases, women 5 rates were more frequently higher than those for men, particularly in meningitis, herpes simplex, syphilis, gonoccocal disease, and candidiasis. In general, the 1980s were marked by downward trends in many infectious diseases, by relatively stable rates of sexually transmitted diseases, and by brief epidemic periods of measles, mumps, and varicella.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA419514

Entities

People

  • Cedric Garland
  • E. K.Eric Gunderson
  • Laura L. Hourani

Organizations

  • Naval Health Research Center

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections
  • Health Services
  • Herpesviridae Infections
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Medical Personnel
  • Meningitis
  • Parasitic Diseases
  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases
  • Therapy
  • Virus Diseases
  • Viruses
  • Zoonoses

Readers

  • Infectious Disease/Epidemiology
  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Mental Health of Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Risk Factors, Prevalence, Symptoms, and Treatment.