People facing digestive troubles while traveling can now breathe relieved, as results of a clinical trial showed that an experimental vaccine patch developed by Iomai Corp. managed to keep traveler’s diarrhea away.

The vaccine protects against Escherichia coli bacteria, especially a strain known as Enterotoxigenic E. coli or ETEC.

For the study, 170 adults traveling to areas known to be hot spots of tummy trouble in Guatemala and Mexico were given the experimental patch, which proved to be very efficient. More exactly, during and after travel, 15 percent of the patients who got the patch developed diarrhea of any type and just 5 percent had ETEC-related diarrhea. This compared to 22 percent of travelers who got placebo, 10 percent of whom had ETEC diarrhea.

Only 2 percent of those who used the patch experienced serious bouts of illness, compared to 11 percent who did not use the patch.

Dr. Herbert DuPont of the University of Texas in Houston who helped test the vaccine said it prevented more than 70 percent “of the episodes of moderate or severe traveler’s diarrhea. This vaccine is among the best we have for these kinds of diseases.”

Travelers’ diarrhea is most commonly picked up from bacteria in Africa, Asia and Latin America, affecting up to 27 million travelers yearly. Its symptoms include severe diarrhea, abdominal cramps and dehydration.

The study findings were published in the Lancet.