Chan-Cuzydlo A

Harrison DJ

Pike BL

Currie BJ

Mayo M

Salvador MG

Hulsey WR

Azzarello J

Ellis J

Kim D

King-Lewis W

Smith JN

Rodriguez B

Maves RC

Lawler JV

Schully KL

2021-09-15

PURPOSE: In 2012, US Marines and Sailors began annual deployments to Australia to participate in joint training exercises with the Australian Defence Force and other partners in the region. During their training, US service members are exposed to a variety of infectious disease threats not normally encountered by American citizens. This paper describes a cohort of US Marines and Sailors enrolled during five rotations to Australia between 2016 and 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Study participation is strictly voluntary. Group informational sessions are held prior to deployment to describe the study structure and goals, as well as the infectious disease threats that participants may encounter while in Australia. All participants provided written informed consent. Consented participants complete a pre-deployment questionnaire to collect data including basic demographic information, military occupational specialty, travel history, family history, basic health status and personal habits such as alcohol consumption. Blood is collected for serum, plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) processing. Data and specimen collection is repeated up to three times: before, during and after deployment. FINDINGS TO DATE: From the five rotations that comprised the 2016-2020 Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, we enrolled 1289 volunteers. Enrolments during this period were overwhelmingly white male under the age of 24 years. Most of the enrollees were junior enlisted and non-commissioned officers, with a smaller number of staff non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers, and minimal warrant officers. Over half of the enrollees had occupational specialty designations for infantry. FUTURE PLANS: In the future, we will screen samples for serological evidence of infection with Burkholderia pseudomallei, Coxiella burnetii, Ross River virus, SARS-CoV-2 and other operationally relevant pathogens endemic in Australia. Antigenic stimulation assays will be performed on PBMCs collected from seropositive individuals to characterise the immune response to these infections in this healthy American population.

The Austere environments Consortium for Enhanced Sepsis Outcomes (ACESO), The Henry M Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Naval Medical Research Center, Frederick, Maryland, USA.

Department of Infectious Diseases, Menzies School of Health Research, Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia.

Department of Infectious Diseases, Royal Darwin Hospital, Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia.

Menzies School of Health Research, Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia.

1st Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, USA.

Division of Infectious Diseases, Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, California, USA.

Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

Austere environments Consortium for Enhanced Sepsis Outcomes (ACESO), Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA kevin.l.schully.civ@mail.mil.

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

BMJ Open. 2021 Sep 15;11(9):e050330. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050330.

0000-0001-5554-0133

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34526342/?otool=iaurydwlib

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/11883

11

Adult

Australia/epidemiology

*COVID-19

Cohort Studies

Humans

Leukocytes, Mononuclear

Male

*Military Personnel

SARS-CoV-2

United States/epidemiology

Young Adult

Cohort profile: a migratory cohort study of US Marines who train in Australia.

Journal Article

Publication