New diarrhoea patches being trialled for travellers

Patches are being trialled to protect travellers against diarrhoea, according to a report in The Lancet.

Research has found that patches containing E-coli toxins can prevent diarrhoea and also reduce the severity of the problem if it is contracted.

A phase two trial was carried out on healthy adults who planned to travel to Mexico or Guatemala using labile enterotoxin (LT) patches.

Two weeks before travelling, 178 out of the 201 participants received the patches, and the rest were given different patches to examine the placebo effect.

Each person was given a diary to record stool output during the trip and samples were taken if diarrhoea occurred.

Only two per cent of the LT patch group suffered severe diarrhoea, compared to 11 per cent of the placebo group.

The authors wrote: "The LT patch vaccine conferred some protective efficacy against moderate-to-severe travellers' diarrhoea of any cause, severe diarrhoea, and moderate-to-severe E-coli diarrhoea."

According to medicinenet.com, up to 50 per cent of travellers will experience diarrhoea, depending on which area of the world they visit.