The researchers from the University of Texas in Houston, in the Lancet medical journal on Wednesday reported about a new skin patch that can help protecting travelers from a common vacation spoiler, Montezuma's Revenge, also termed as traveler's diarrhea (TD).

The researchers researching on the new patch, developed by U.S. biotechnology company Iomai Corp., stated that the patch protected more than 70 percent of visitors to Mexico and Guatemala from traveler's diarrhea. The researchers found that travelers treated with the vaccine patch who did develop diarrhea had shorter and less severe episodes of Montezuma's Revenge than others.

Dr. Herbert DuPont of the University of Texas in Houston, who helped test the new vaccine patch, said, "I think it's one of the most exciting new developments in travel medicine.”

"People could buy this and put it on themselves whenever they take a trip. It is the most convenient form of immunization I have ever seen," DuPont said.

According to researchers, 27 million travelers and 210 million children each year are stricken with diarrhea, often from eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated beverages.

The researchers said that the new vaccine patch was promising against Escherichia coli bacteria - specifically a strain known as Enterotoxigenic E. coli or ETEC. Enterotoxigenic E. coli bacteria are a leading cause of traveler's diarrhea. When these bacteria colonize the small intestine, they secrete toxins that cause diarrhea. The toxin most commonly linked to diarrhea from this E. coli is called heat-labile enterotoxin (LT).

Traveler's diarrhea is defined as three or more unformed stools in 24 hours, commonly accompanied by abdominal cramps, nausea, and bloating. It usually lasts about four to five days; its symptoms include loose stools, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and dehydration.