Does the Balkan Syndrome Exist? – the Belgian Experience
نویسنده
چکیده
Belgian soldiers have participated in Crisis Response Operations since the early nineties. The first deployments took place in the Balkans. These real life operations led to health problems that looked quite similar to experiences in other Task Forces sent abroad but the pattern did not fit into any disease diagnostic. Hence, new descriptive labels were invented; e.g. the “Cambodia syndrome” in the Netherlands’ troops, or the “Gulf war syndrome” among British and American soldiers. Therefore, this “new illness” – as a result of the Balkan deployment – was named the “Balkan syndrome”. After much criticism, among others, that the higher command was hiding information about the health condition of the deployed soldiers, the Belgian Medical Service started to record all symptoms/complaints of soldiers (designated to deployments) before, during and after deployment, as reported in their personal medical file. These reported complaints were put in a large database using the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2) to encode those complaints. The database contains data of 4521 soldiers. In this presentation we will first pay attention to aspects of nosography in general and secondly to the clinical epidemiology of the observed complaints in particular. Given that no consistent clinical image appeared, the conclusion is that there is no syndrome (in the strict sense) and thus that the “Balkan syndrome” does not exist.
منابع مشابه
Performance-Based Financing to Strengthen the Health System in Benin: Challenging the Mainstream Approach
Background Performance-based financing (PBF) is often proposed as a way to improve health system performance. In Benin, PBF was launched in 2012 through a World Bank-supported project. The Belgian Development Agency (BTC) followed suit through a health system strengthening (HSS) project. This paper analyses and draws lessons from the experience of BTC-supported PBF alternative approach – especi...
متن کاملNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome and gastric cancer: Single center experience.
متن کامل
The Lived Experience of Premenstrual Syndrome on Single Girls: A Qualitative Study
Introduction: Premenstrual syndrome is one of the most important clinical problems in women's diseases. The significance of PMS due to its more prevalence in young girls requires a deeper study and finding their own experiences. method: The present qualitative study was a phenomenological approach. The study population included premenstrual syndrome, 10 people were selected by targeted sampling...
متن کاملبررسی شیوع و فراوانی عوامل خطر سندرم مرگ ناگهانی شیر خوار (SIDS)
Background: Sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS is an idiopathic syndrome that leads to sudden and unexpected death in infants aged less than one year (12 months). It is prevalence rate is 7.0 per 1,000 live births. This type of death is very bitter experience enormous sorrow for the family. Various risk factors have been identified for this idiopathic Syndrome (the parents, baby and infant sl...
متن کاملProtective effect of royal jelly in 2,4,6 trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid-induced colitis in rats
Objective(s):In the present study, we evaluated immunological and immunomodulatory properties of royal jelly (RJ) in 2,4,6 trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis in rats. Materials and Methods: Eighteen adult female Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups of six animals each: a control group that received only saline solution, a TNBS-induced colitis group, and a TNBS-co...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2013