Infectious disease symptoms and microbial carriage among French medical students travelling abroad: A prospective study

Abstract

Background: In France, no previous studies have focused specifically on health problems among medical students during internships abroad including the clinical symptoms suggestive of infectious diseases and the acquisition of pathogen carriage. Methods: Clinical follow up and qPCR based respiratory, gastrointestinal and vaginal pathogen carriage before and after travel were prospectively assessed in a cohort of medical students departing from Marseille, France. Results: 134 students were included. 73.9%, 38.8% and 5.0% of students reported gastrointestinal, respiratory and vaginal symptoms, respectively. The acquisition rate of Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) and Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) was 53% and 41%, respectively. The acquisition of respiratory viruses was low but associated with persisting symptoms, while bacterial acquisition ranged from 3.3% for Streptococcus pyogenes to 15.0% for Haemophilus influenzae. Gardnerella vaginalis and Atopobium vaginae acquisition rates were 7.7% and 14.3% respectively. Five students (5.1%) had molecular quantification criteria for bacterial vaginosis on return. Conclusion: This preliminary study demonstrates that besides the known risk of gastrointestinal and respiratory infections and associated changes in intestinal and respiratory microbiota, medical students abroad may also experience changes in vaginal microbiota leading, in some cases, to clinical symptoms or the acquisition of bacterial vaginosis, which may be asymptomatic.

Compelling Evidence of Bacterial Pharyngeal Colonization among Clinical Sciences Students

“…It is important to note that S. pneumoniae, K. pneumoniae, and H. influenzae are the most widespread causative bacterial pathogens correlated with acquired respiratory tract infections [22], and then they are possible aetiological agents of pneumonia, pharyngitis, otitis media, and para-nasal sinusitis (which are common symptoms among our clinical sciences students).…”

Variations in respiratory pathogen carriage among a homeless population in a shelter for men in Marseille, France, March–July 2020: cross-sectional 1-day surveys

“…Real-time reverse transcription-PCR amplification was used to confirm the presence of six bacteria ( Moraxella catarrhalis, Staphylococcus aureus , Haemophilus influenzae , Streptococcus pneumoniae , Klebsiella pneumoniae [ 7 ] and Acinetobacter baumannii [ 8 ] and eight types of viruses (SARS-CoV-2 [ 9 ], influenza A [FluA], influenza B [FluB], human rhinovirus [HRV], human metapneumovirus [HMPV], human respiratory syncytial virus [HRSV] [ 7 ], adenovirus [ADV] [ 10 ] and human coronavirus [HCoV] [ 11 ]), together with internal controls (human beta-actin gene [ 12 ] and MS2 phage [ 7 ]) as previously described. HCoV-positive samples were subsequently screened for HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43 [ 2 ].…”

Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in international travelers

“…Dao et al [ 37 ▪▪ , 38 ▪▪ , 39 , 40 ] conducted a prospective study of 382 French medical students interning internationally between 2017 and 2019 to assess acquisition of respiratory, enteric and vaginal pathogens. The top three destinations were South East Asia, Africa and South Asia.…”