• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.248-253
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• 2018

Freshwater farms are primarily located adjacent to rivers and lakes, facilitating the introduction and spread of pathogens into natural systems. Therefore, it is necessary to continuously monitor natural aquatic organisms, the breeding environment, and infection rates by pathogenic organisms. Fish and crustaceans were sampled 4 times in the Geum River estuary in 2016. The samples were analyzed for the presence of pathogens for reportable communicable diseases, including KHVD (koi herpesvirus disease), SVC (spring viraemia of carp), EUS (epizootic ulcerative syndrome) and WSD (white spot disease); parasite abundance was also examined. The dominant fish species were deep body bitterling Acanthorhodes macropterus (21.4%), followed by skygager Erythroculter erythropterus (12.7%). For crustaceans, Palaemon paucidens and Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis were dominant. Sixty fish and 36 crustacean species were examined for reportable communicable diseases. When using a specific primer set for each disease, PCR analysis did not detect any reportable communicable diseases in the samples. Some instances of Dactylogyrus, copepods, nematodes and metacercaria were detected. However, the PCR results indicated that the metacercaria were not Clonorchis sinensis.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.150-166
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• 2016

In the aftermath of a recent outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), legal matters on the spread of epidemics have emerged as major social issues in Korea, with the awareness that rampant contagious diseases are disasters in society. Problems arose over damages arising from patients who contract infectious diseases, compensation for people under quarantine and for a partial, or entire, shutdown of hospitals, and information disclosure on infectious diseases. As epidemic-linked problems have never been socially disputed in Korea, the relevant legal issues appear to be studied comparatively less than other areas. As interests are heightened over legal issues on infectious illnesses amid the MERS scare, in-depth, further research on such legal issues should be conducted in an utmost effort to prevent and make preparations for epidemics which potentially become a social disaster, such as new Hong Kong flu, Ebola virus and Zika virus.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.73-94
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• 2020

Particulate infectious sources, including infectious viruses, can float in the air, causing airborne infections. To prevent indoor airborne infection, dilution control by ventilation and indoor air cleaners are frequently used. In this study, the risk of airborne infection by the operation of these two techniques was evaluated. In case of dilution control by ventilation, a high efficiency air filter was embedded at the inlet of supply air. In this study, infectious source reduction devices such as indoor air cleaner include all kinds of mechanical-filters, UV-photo catalysts and air ionizers through which air flow is forced by fans. Two mathematical models for influenza virus were applied in an infant care room where infants and young children are active, and the risk reduction efficiency was compared. As a result, in the case of individually operating the ventilator or the infectious source reduction device, the airborne infection risk reduction efficiencies were 55.2~61.2% and 53.8~59.9%, respectively. When both facilities were operated, it was found that the risk of airborne infection was reduced about 72.2~76.8%. Therefore, simultaneous operation of ventilation equipment and infectious source reduction device is the most effective method for safe environment that minimizes the risk of airborne infection of respiratory infectious diseases. In the case of a space where sufficient ventilation operation is difficult, it was found that the operation of an infectious source reduction device is important to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. This study is meaningful in that it provides an academic basis for strategies for preventing airborne infection of respiratory infectious diseases.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.1-7
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• 2020

Early detection and classification of crop diseases play significant role to help farmers to reduce disease spread and to increase agricultural productivity. Recently, many researchers have used deep learning techniques like convolutional neural network (CNN) classifier for crop disease inspection with dataset of crop leaf images (e.g., PlantVillage dataset). These researches present over 90% of classification accuracy for crop diseases, but they have ability to detect only the pre-trained diseases. This paper proposes an efficient disease inspection CNN model for new crops not used in the pre-trained model. First, we present a benchmark crop disease classifier (CDC) for the crops in PlantVillage dataset using VGG16. Then we build a modified crop disease classifier (mCDC) to inspect diseases for untrained crops. The performance evaluation results show that the proposed model outperforms the benchmark classifier.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.172-182
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• 2022

Background: The coronavirus problem is an ecological problem stemming from a sudden change in the relationship between parasites and hosts. Ecologists judge organisms that are established out of their original territory as exotic species. Unlike in their original habitat, these exotic species become very aggressive in their newly settled habitat. Coronavirus infection damage was bigger in Europe or the United States than that in the country of its origin, China, and its neighboring countries. Therefore, coronavirus infection damage resembles the damage due to the invasive species. Results: Exotic species are found in places with similar environmental conditions to those of their origin when introduced to other ecological regions. However, there are few ecological ill effects in their place of origin, while the damage is usually severe in the ecological regions in which it is introduced. According to historical records, exotic infectious diseases, such as European smallpox and measles, also showed a similar trend and caused great damage in newly established places. Therefore, it is expected that measures to manage exotic species could be used for the prevention of exotic infectious diseases such as the coronavirus. Conclusions: Prevention comes first in the management of exotic species, and in order to come up with preventive measures, it is important to collect information on the characteristics of related organisms and their preferred environment. In this respect, ecosystem management measures such as exotic species management measures could be used as a reference to prevent and suppress the spread. To put these measures into practice, it is urgently required to establish an international integrated information network for collecting and exchanging information between regions and countries. Furthermore, a systematic ecosystem-management strategy in which natural and human environments could continue sustainable lives in their respective locations may serve as a countermeasure to prevent infectious diseases.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.18.1-18.27
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• 2024

Mastitis is one of the most widespread infectious diseases that adversely affects the profitability of the dairy industry worldwide. Accurate diagnosis and identification of pathogens early to cull infected animals and minimize the spread of infection in herds is critical for improving treatment effects and dairy farm welfare. The major pathogens causing mastitis and pathogenesis are assessed first. The most recent and advanced strategies for detecting mastitis, including genomics and proteomics approaches, are then evaluated. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of each technique, potential research directions, and future perspectives are reported. This review provides a theoretical basis to help veterinarians select the most sensitive, specific, and cost-effective approach for detecting bovine mastitis early.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2022

African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal viral disease in pigs, with a short incubation period and causing immediate death. Few studies exist on the Asian epidemic ASF virus (ASFV) challenge in older pigs, including growing and fattening pigs and sows. We aimed to investigate clinical outcomes, pathomorphological lesions, and viral distribution in organs of 3-month-old growing pigs that were inoculated with the ASFV isolated in Vietnam. The clinical outcomes were recorded daily, and the dead or euthanized pigs immediately underwent necropsy. Viral loads were determined in 10 major organs using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The average incubation period in growing pigs was more delayed (5.2±0.9 dpi) than that in weaned pigs, and the clinical signs were milder in growing pigs than in weaned pigs. The digestive and respiratory clinical signs in growing pigs showed at the end period of life, but these were observed at an early stage of infection in weaned pigs. The pathomorphological features were severe and nonspecific with hemorrhagic lesions in various organs. The viral loads in organs from growing pigs were higher than those from piglets, and the number of viral copies was related to gross lesions in the tonsil and intestine. In the absence of vaccines against ASF, early clinical detection is important for preventing the spread of the virus. Our findings elucidated that the clinical signs and gross lesions in growing pigs differed from those in weaned pigs, which provide valuable information for diagnosis of pigs with suspected ASF infection.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.69 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2010

Background: The increasing rate of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is a threat to the public health and TB control. In Korea, about 75~80% of TB patients are treated in private hospitals and the rate has been continuously increasing since 2000. Methods: On a retrospective basis, we enrolled 170 newly diagnosed with or retreated for multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in 2004 from 21 private hospitals. We extracted the following demographics and treatment history from patient medical records: initial treatment outcomes, cumulative survival rates, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors. Results: Of the 170 patients, the majority were male (64.1%), the mean age was 44.5 years old, and mean body-mass-index was $20.2kg/m^2$. None of the patients tested positive for HIV. Eleven (6.5%) were confirmed to have extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) at treatment initiation. Treatment success rates were not different between XDR-TB (36.4%, 4/11) and non-XDR MDR-TB (51.6%, 82/159). Default rate was high, 21.8% (37/170). Far advanced disease on X-ray was a significant negative predictor of treatment success; advanced disease and low BMI were risk factors for all-cause mortality. Conclusion: In private hospitals in Korea, the proportion of XDR-TB in MDR-TB was comparable to previous data. The treatment success rate of MDR-/XDR-TB remains poor and the failure rate was quite high. Adequate TB control policies should be strengthened to prevent the further development and spread of MDR-/XDR-TB in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2023

Public sewage treatment facilities are a necessary infrastructure for public health that treat sewage generated in cities and basin living areas and discharge it into rivers or seas. Recently, the role of public sewage treatment is receiving attention as a place of use of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), which analyzes human specific metabolic emissions or biomarkers present in sewage to investigate the environment to which the population is exposed in the water drain. WBE is mainly applied to investigate legal and water-law drug use or to predict and analyze the lifestyle of local residents. WBE has also been applied to predict and analyze the degree of infectious diseases that are prevalent worldwide, such as COVID-19. Since sewage flowing into public sewage treatment facilities includes living information of the population living in the drainage area, it is easy to collect basic data to predict the confirmation and spread of infectious diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a new role of public sewage treatment facilities as an infrastructure necessary for WBE that can obtain information on the confirmation and spread of infectious diseases other than the traditional role of public sewage treatment. In South Korea, the sewerage supply rate is about 95.5% and the number of public sewage treatment facility is 4,209. This means that the infrastructure of sewerage is fully established. However, to successfully drive for WBE , research on monitoring and big-data analysis is needed.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.451-470
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• 2023

Purpose: Since COVID-19 was first discovered in China in December 2019, it has rapidly spread around the world, causing serious economic and social problems not only in individuals' lives, but also in businesses and countries. Individuals, businesses, and governments have all made various efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Although the roles of individuals, companies, and the government are important to respond to and manage infectious diseases, previous studies have only partially studied the roles. Therefore, in this study, the roles of individuals, companies, and the government to achieve results in responding to infectious diseases disaster management A comprehensive study was conducted on this issue, and it was attempted to understand the impact of workers' perceptions of infectious disease disaster management and government and corporate capabil]ities on disaster response performance. Method: The survey was conducted for workers in the automobile manufacturing industry in Ulsan, Gyeongju, and Yangsan, and frequency analysis, factor analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were performed. Result: It was found that worker perception had a positive effect on both government and corporate capabilities as well as disaster management performance. In addition, government capacity and corporate capacity had a positive effect on disaster management performance. Conclusion: The results of this study are meaningful in that they reveal that not only workers' perceptions but also the capabilities of the government and companies are important to achieve disaster response performance. In addition, workers should make good use of opportunities for education and participation provided by the government and corporations, and make the most social efforts that workers can make.