[Travel diarrhea: attempt at a clinical-epidemiologic evaluation]

Traveller's diarrhea is the most common tourist's disease in the tropics. Therefore epidemiological data for the evaluation of factors influencing the attack rates and the severity of the disease are being required. This paper deals with the data of 1058 Austrian tourists travelling to warm climate countries. 47.3% of all travellers suffered from an episode of traveller's diarrhea during their stay. However, it could be evaluated that besides the destination seasonal influences were very important. Factors like individual hygiene and accommodation did not influence the attack rates. Age and environmental conditions, however, did partially influence the frequency of diarrhea. Furthermore, additional symptoms were interpreted and it could be seen that suspected heterogenicity of etiology leads to a similar pattern of clinical symptoms. Clinical evaluation proves that traveller's diarrhea is commonly not severe, but due to the incidence and duration of the disease it is a major health problem in modern tourism.