AIM:During emergency period,infectious diseases can bea major threat to military forces.During field training insouthern China,diarrhea is the main cause of nonbattleinjury.To evaluate the causes of and risk factors for diarrheain emergency period,we collected clinical and epidemiologicaldata from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during fieldtraining in southern China.METHODS:From September 25 to October 2 1997,2636military personnel were investigated.Fecal sample cultures forlapactic pathogens were obtained from 103 military personnelwith diarrhea.In addition,a questionnaire was administeredto 103 cases and 206 controls to evaluate the associationbetween illness and potential risk factors.At the same time,another questionnaire of 1:4 case-case control was administeredto 22 severe cases (each severe case paired 4 mild cases).RESULTS:The training troop’s diarrhea incidence rate wassignificantly higher than that of garrison.The diarrhea incidencerate of officers was significantly lower than that of soldiers.Alapactic pathogen was identified in 63.1% (65/103) of the troopswith diarrhea.Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (35.0%) andplesiomona shigelloides (16.5%) were the most commonbacterial pathogens.All bacterial isolates were sensitive tonorfloxacin and ceftazidine.However,almost all of them wereresistant to sulfamethoxazole,trimethopdm-sulfamethoxazole,oxytetracycline,doxycycline,furazolidone,ampicillin andcloromycetin to a different degree.Risk factors associatedwith diarrhea includediidrinking raw water,eating outside,contacting diarrhea patients,lacking sanitation,depression,lacking sleep,which were established by multiple-factor logisticregression analysis.In addition,the unit incidence rate wasassociated with the density of flies and the average dailyboiled water available by regression and discriminate analysis.CONCLUSION:A series of risk factors are associated withthe incidence rate of diarrhea.Our results may provide auseful basis for prevention and cure of diarrhea in emergencyperiod of PLA. AIM: During emergency period, infectious diseases can bea major threat to military forces. Training field training insouthern China, diarrhea is the main cause of nonbattleinjury. To evaluate the causes of and risk factors for diarrheain emergency period, we collected clinical and epidemiological data from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during fieldtraining in southern China.METHODS: From September 25 to October 2 1997, 2636military personnel were investigated. Fecal sample cultures forlapactic pathogens were obtained from 103 military personnelwith diarrhea. Addition, a questionnaire was administeredto 103 cases and 206 controls to evaluate the association between illness and potential risk factors. At the same time, another questionnaire of 1: 4 case-case control was administered to 22 severe cases (each severe case paired 4 mild cases) .RESULTS: The training troop’s diarrhea incidence rate wassignificantly higher than that of garrison.The diarrhea incidence rate of officers was significantly lower than those of soldiers. Alapactic pathogen was identified in 63.1% (65/103) of the troopswith diarrhea .Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (35.0%) andplesiomona shigelloides (16.5%) were the most common bacterial pathogens. All bacterial isolates were sensitive to tonorfloxacin and ceftazidine. However, almost all of them wereresistant to sulfamethoxazole, trimethopdm-sulfamethoxazole, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, furazolidone, ampicillin and cloromycetin to a different degree. Scan factors associated with diarrhea includediidrinking raw water, eating outside, contacting diarrhea patients, lacking sanitation, depression, lacking sleep, which were established by multiple-factor logisticregression analysis. addition, the unit incidence rate wasassociated with the density of flies and the average dailyboiled water available by regression and discriminate analysis. CONCLUSION: A series of risk factors are associated with the incidence rate of diarrhea. Our results may provide auseful basis for prevention and cure of diarrhea in emergencyperiod of PLA.