• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Disaster Information Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.298-299
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• 2015

본 논문은 2013년 5월 국제바이러스 분류 위원회에서 중동호흡기증후군을 일으키는 신종 코로나바이러스를 메르스코로나바이러스(MERS-CoV)라 명명한 후, 2015년 5월 국내에 감염자가 들어와 이후 확산되고, 중동 호흡기 증후군 환자 발생 후 국내 첫 사망자가 발생한 일개 병원 지역응급의료센터 내원 후 확산을 막기 위하여 시행하였던 경험들을 공유하고자 한 내용이다.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.136-142
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• 2015

The Korean Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (KSPID) has participated in the task force team consisting of government authorities as well as civil medical experts and facilities to block the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in 2015. KSPID posted the "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Pop-up" in the homepage of The Korean Pediatric Society and The Korean Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. KSPID also released the "Guidelines for testing for MERS in children and adolescents" and the "Instructions for the Operation of National Safe Hospital" for children and adolescents in a timely manner. Such actions were aimed to prevent unnecessary anxieties, studies and isolation of pediatric patients with respiratory symptoms and signs caused by other common microbial etiologies as being suspected for MERS patients. This strategy relieved the doctors and parents from unnecessary fear and prevented the loss of unnecessary health care costs, and has proven to be a well-judged guideline and management protocol as evaluated after the final end of MERS outbreak. KSPID and its members should support the presence of pediatric infectious disease (PID) specialists in every medium size hospitals in Korea by developing the need for consultation fees for PID consultation in the hospital based practice and promoting the potential for cost savings related to prevention of health care associated infections and optimal prescription of antimicrobial agents. KSPID and its members need to approach and develop a communication plan to political decision makers to demonstrate and convince them of the importance of a PID specialist service.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.171-185
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• 2021

배경: 2015년 한국의 중동호흡기증후군 유행에서 지역간 치명률의 차이는 극명하였다. 이 연구는 대전 클러스터와 다른 지역 간의 치명률의 관련된 일반적 특성 및 역학적 요인을 밝히고저 하였다. 방법: 입원병원 소재지를 기준으로 대전과 타 지역으로 구분하여 관련변수에 따른 카이제곱검정 및 피셔정확검정 등으로 분석하였다. 대전과 다른 지역의 치명률(CFR)의 차이와 관련된 요인을 분석하기 위하여 단변량 및 다변량 로지스틱 회귀분석를 실시하였다. 결과: 모형 I에서는 65세 이상 연령군일수록 7.12배(95% CI 2.33-21.8)(p=0.001), 동반질환이 있는 경우 10.29배(95% CI 2.94-36.06)(p<0.001), 잠복기가 7일 이하인 경우가 8.55배(95% CI 2.54-26.7), 입원기간이 17일 이하인 경우 10.08배(95% CI 2.99-31.9)(p<0.001) 등이었으며, 모형 II에서는 65세 이상 연령군일수록 5.34배(95% CI 1.65-17.2)(p=0.005), 잠복기가 7일 이하인 경우가 6.70배(95% CI 1.96-22.89), 입원기간이 17일 이하인 경우 8.90배(95% CI 2.59-30.6)(p=0.001), 동반질환에서 암의 경우에서 7.15배(95% CI 1.64-31.14)(p=0.009) 등이었다. 결론: 2015년 한국 중동호흡기증후군 유행에서 대전 클러스터의 높은 치명율은 연령(≥65세), 동반질환(특히 암), 잠복기(≤7일), 입원기간(≤17일) 등이 유의한 변수로 도출되었다.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.599-607
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• 2016

The first patient of Middle East respiratory syndrome caused by a novel coronavirus infection in Korea was confirmed on May 20, 2015. After that, MERS spread over the country. In recent years, patients of MERS have been found around the Arabian Peninsula and the case fatality ratio of MERS in those area was been reported to range from 30 to 40%. In this paper, we estimate the case fatality ratio of MERS of Korea using data of 186 infections until December 1, 2015. In this study we propose a novel estimator of the case fatality ratio using information of the patients severity condition as well as records on the days of confirmation and death or recovery of the patient. By using publicly available data of the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control, we evaluate a performance of the estimator and demonstrate a stability of the estimator from the early stage of the epidemic.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.174-185
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• 2018

This study was conducted to explore the levels of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-related knowledge, attitudes and preventive behaviors performance and to identify predictors of MERS-related preventive behaviors performance among clinical practice students in a tertiary hospital. The participants were 480 nursing and medical clinical practice students. Data collection was conducted using self-reported questionnaires in June of 2015 and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and hierarchical regression using the SPSSWIN 24.0 program. The MERS-related knowledge (9.56 out of 13 points) was high, attitudes towards MERS, such as severity cognition and prevention about MERS was positive (4.15 out of 5 points), and MERS-related preventive behaviors performance level was moderate (3.02 out of 5 points). Female students, having education experience regarding MERS, taking vaccination for influenza H1N1 infection in the last year, having the intention of taking influenza H1N1 in the current year, having fear of MERS infection, higher knowledge and more positive attitudes about MERS were predictors of better MERS-related preventive behaviors performance. These results show that general characteristics associated with MERS-related preventive behaviors performance should be considered to improve preventive behaviors of clinical practice students. Furthermore, this study highlights the need to develop effective and useful MERS education programs that provide essential knowledge and attitude about MERS that clinical practice students must acquire to promote the MERS-related preventive behaviors performance.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.725-732
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• 2016

This study analyzes the number of Jeju-bound tourists according to travellers' purposes. We classify the travellers' purposes into three categories: "Rest and Sightseeing", "Leisure and Sport", and "Conference and Business". To see an impact of MERS outbreak occurred in May 2015 on the number of tourists, we fit seasonal ARIMA-Intervention model to the monthly arrivals data from January 2005 to March 2016. The estimation results show that the number of tourists for "Leisure and Sport" and "Conference and Business" were significantly affected by MERS outbreak whereas arrivals for "Rest and Sightseeing" were little influenced. Using the fitted models, we predict the number of Jeju-bound tourists.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.52
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• pp.145-162
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• 2017

In 2005, the Republic of Korea suffered from the outbreak of MERS(Middle East respiratory syndrome), leaving 186 infectees and 38 casualties. Responding to this crisis, Korean government revealed many problems in emergency management policies and was widely criticized. A similar case in emergency management and infectious disease control is the 1999 outbreak of West Nile Virus(WNV) outbreak in the United States. During this period, the state of Oregon effectively responded to WNV through collaboration between state and local government, being considered as a model case of emergency management. This article aims to find insights in emergency management and infectious disease control by analyzing and comparing the responses of Korean MERS outbreak and Oregon's WNV outbreak focusing on interorganizational collaboration. Insights found in this study include the role of control tower, the importance of information sharing and disclosure, the role of existing systems and social networks, and sustainable intergovernmental collaboration.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.273-287
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• 2015

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the epidemic disease including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS) on the usage of public libraries. Such disease yields anxiety throughout the nation and discourages social activities in general. 18,711,453 records from 303 public libraries were examined with "big data retrieval & analysis platform for public libraries" located in Sejong National Library. The results are as follows. First, in 2015, when MERS was prevalent, the daily mean of books checked out was 64,645.05, showing decrease of 6,300 per day compared to that of 2014. Second, in 2014, the daily mean of books checked out from July 5th to August 19th was greater than that of from April 4th to May 19th and that of from May 20th to July 4th, implying the impact of summer vacation on the increase in books checked out in public libraries. Third, in 2015, the daily mean of books checked out from July 5th was greater than during MERS outbreak(from May 20th to July 4th), while it did not show statistically significant difference with that of before the outbreak. Fourth, the daily mean of books checked out did not show statistically significant difference between 2014 and 2015 before and during the outbreak, while it showed statistically significant difference between 2014 and 2015 after the epidemic period. The results indicate that MERS and the anxiety it brought nationwide had an impact on the daily mean of books checked out in public libraries after the epidemic period rather than during the outbreak.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.59-69
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to provide basic materials on establishing convergence oriented respiratory infection management system in nursing students attending clinical training by analyzing anxiety, knowledge, possibility of infection, possibility of prevention, and compliance level of preventive behavior. Data were collected from 222 nursing students experienced clinical practice from June 15th to 30th in 2015 using questionnaire. Characteristics relative to variables were measured, and analyzed using SPSS 18.0 program. The results are as follows. The anxiety was 42.70(max 80 points), but possibility of infection was 22.55(max 100 points). Also, knowledge(11.73 out of 16 points), possibility of prevention(7.37 out of 10 points), and compliance level of preventive behavior(34.55 out of maximum 48 points) were slightly above average. The influencing factors on compliance of preventive behavior were anxiety and possibility of prevention. It is needed to lead convergence oriented approach on enhancing compliance of preventive behavior through providing information and educating possibility of prevention during MERS outbreak.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.402-410
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• 2016

Purpose: Personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical to protect healthcare workers from pandemic outbreaks. This study was designed to identify nurses' knowledge, attitude and perceptions on PPE. Methods: Data were collected from 154 nurses working at a tertiary general hospital, where positively diagnosed and suspected patients were accepted and admitted during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus outbreak in 2015. The PPE tool consists of 20 items for knowledge, and 5 each for attitudes and perceptions. Results: Overall, knowledge for PPE was higher than moderate (76.95/100), but there was a lack for items related to powered air purifying respirator (PAPR). For attitudes, willingness to work in pandemic outbreaks was the most positive (4.04/5.00). Goggles and PAPR were perceived as the most uncomfortable barriers to work. There was no correlation between knowledge, attitude and perceptions, despite a strong positive correlation between attitude and perceptions. PPE training was identified as a factor to improve knowledge and attitudes on PPE. Conclusion: To respond to pandemic influenza, nurses need to expand their knowledge on PPE up to Level C, and be updated through regular training. Study findings suggest that repetitive studies targeting nurses and other healthcare workers at various hospital settings are necessary.