• 한국동물위생학회지
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.315-323
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• 2009

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus exists in seven serotypes and is known to be a highly contagious disease that is hard to eradicate from the world. The O, A, Asia1 and SAT2 serotypes commonly infected cattle, sheep and goats during 2007~2009 throughout the world. In particular, the outbreak of the Asia1 serotype in China appeared in all areas from 2005 and is still present. Surprisingly, in 2009, Taiwan reported the first outbreak of the type O serotype since 2001. Then type A appeared in China for the first time since the early 1960s. The virus shows a close relationship to the viruses from Southeast Asia suggesting one or more recent introductions into China in the OIE reports. Recently the subtype of A/Iran05 spread to nearby countries exhibiting genomic evolution. The use of molecular epidemiology is an important tool in understanding and consequently controlling the FMD virus. The phylogenetic analysis with VP1 gene was especially useful for molecular epidemiological studies and showed the same pattern which matches with serotype classification. This paper describes basic information about the disease, and the serotype-specific characteristics and evolution to perform molecular epidemiological analysis. Furthermore, we show the importance of the genetic evolution on the FMD serotypes in global surveillance and molecular epidemiology of FMD for outbreak investigation.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제41권3호
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• pp.153-158
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• 2008

Objectives : This study describes a plan that was designed to prevent a measles outbreak that showed a changed outbreak pattern. This study is based on the epidemiological investigation of a measles outbreak in a preschool in Incheon, Korea, 2006. Methods : The subjects were 152 students at a preschool where a measles outbreak occurred. A questionnaire survey was conducted and serological testing for measles-specific IgM was preformed. Results : Of the fifteen confirmed, identified cases, eleven patients had been vaccinated with one dose, one patient had received two doses and three patients were unvaccinated. The three unvaccinated cases consisted of one 5-year-old child, one 3-year-old child and one 16-month-old infant. For the cases with one dose of the vaccination, there were 11 cases, which consisted of six 5-year-old children, two 4-year-old children, two 3-year-old children and one 2-year-old child. The case with two doses of the vaccination was one 4-year-old child. The attack rate of measles was 100% in the 0-dose group, 11.2% in the 1-dose group and 2.0% in the 2-dose group. The vaccine's efficacy was 88.8% in the 1-dose group and 98.0% in the 2-dose group. The vaccine effectiveness for the 2-dose group was higher than that of the 1-dose group. Conclusions : High coverage with a 2-dose vaccination should be maintained, and the vaccination should be given at the suitable time to prevent a measles outbreak with a changed outbreak pattern.

• 농촌의학ㆍ지역보건
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• 제44권2호
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• pp.90-93
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• 2019

브루셀라증은 인수공통감염병 중의 하나이며, 우리나라에서는 과거에 비해 거의 근절된 질병이다. 또한 브루셀라증은 우리나라에서 원헬스로 대표되는 상징적인 질병이기도 하다. 이 연구는 민간(경북농업안전보건센터), 가축방역(동물위생시험소) 및 보건당국(보건소) 간의 상호 협력체계를 구축하여 가축전염병 발생 농장 농장주와 가족을 대상으로 브루셀라증 환자 1례를 발견한 사례이다. 이 사례를 통해 인수공통감염병 예방과 관리에 부문간의 협력이 중요함을 다시 인식하는 계기가 되었다.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.531-543
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• 2018

Historically, Plasmodium vivax malaria has been one of the most highly endemic parasitic diseases in the Korean Peninsula. Until the 1970s, vivax malaria was rarely directly lethal and was controlled through the Korean Government Program administered by the National Malaria Eradication Service in association with the World Health Organization's Global Malaria Eradication Program. Vivax malaria has re-emerged in 1993 near the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea and has since become an endemic infectious disease that now poses a serious public health threat through local transmission in the Republic of Korea. This review presents major lessons learned from past and current malaria research, including epidemiological and biological characteristics of the re-emergent disease, and considers some interesting patterns of diversity. Among other features, this review highlights temporal changes in the genetic makeup of the parasitic population, patient demographic features, and spatial distribution of cases, which all provide insight into the factors contributing to local transmission. The data indicate that vivax malaria in Korea is not expanding exponentially. However, continued surveillance is needed to prevent future resurgence.

• 한국동물위생학회지
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• 제46권4호
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• pp.293-302
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• 2023

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the epidemiological trends and challenges in managing tuberculosis (TB) in livestock in Korea from 2013 to 2022. Tuberculosis, caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, is a significant zoonotic disease affecting cattle, deer, and other domesticated animals. Despite the initiation of a test-and-slaughter eradication policy in 1964, TB has continued to persist in Korean livestock, particularly in cattle and deer. This study used data from the Korea Animal Health Integrated System and provincial animal health laboratories to analyze TB incidence in various livestock including different cattle breeds and deer species. The results from 2013 to 2022 showed a peak in TB cases in 2019 with a subsequent decline by 2022. The study highlighted a significant incidence of TB in Korean native cattle and the need for amore inclusive approach towards TB testing and control in different cattle breeds. Additionally, the study underscored the importance of addressing TB in other animals such as goats, wildlife, and companion animals for a holistic approach to TB eradication in Korea. The findings suggest that while the test-and-slaughter strategy has been historically effective, there is a need for adaptation to the current challenges, and learning from successful eradiation stories on other countries like Australia. A collaborative effort involving an expanded surveillance system, active private sector participation, and robust government support essential for the efficient eradication of TB in livestock in Korea.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.92-100
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• 2012

Objectives: The French National Occupational Diseases Surveillance and Prevention Network (RNV3P) is a French network of occupational disease specialists, which collects, in standardised coded reports, all cases where a physician of any specialty, referred a patient to a university occupational disease centre, to establish the relation between the disease observed and occupational exposures, independently of statutory considerations related to compensation. The objective is to compare the relevance of disproportionality measures, widely used in pharmacovigilance, for the detection of potentially new disease ${\times}$ exposure associations in RNV3P database (by analogy with the detection of potentially new health event ${\times}$ drug associations in the spontaneous reporting databases from pharmacovigilance). Methods: 2001-2009 data from RNV3P are used (81,132 observations leading to 11,627 disease ${\times}$ exposure associations). The structure of RNV3P database is compared with the ones of pharmacovigilance databases. Seven disproportionality metrics are tested and their results, notably in terms of ranking the disease ${\times}$ exposure associations, are compared. Results: RNV3P and pharmacovigilance databases showed similar structure. Frequentist methods (proportional reporting ratio [PRR], reporting odds ratio [ROR]) and a Bayesian one (known as BCPNN for "Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network") show a rather similar behaviour on our data, conversely to other methods (as Poisson). Finally the PRR method was chosen, because more complex methods did not show a greater value with the RNV3P data. Accordingly, a procedure for detecting signals with PRR method, automatic triage for exclusion of associations already known, and then investigating these signals is suggested. Conclusion: This procedure may be seen as a first step of hypothesis generation before launching epidemiological and/or experimental studies.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• 제44권3호
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• pp.327-335
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• 2006

An epidemiological survey of human enterobacterial infections was conducted to determine the prevalence of enteropathogens in the Republic of Korea during one year, 2003. We tested for infectious diseases in 26,992 stool samples obtained from people who visited clinics located in six big cities and six rural provinces. From these samples, we isolated 1,291 cases of enteritis bacterial infection (4.8%). In the urban areas, 821 cases of bacterial infection (6.4%) were identified and, in the rural areas, 479 bacterial strains (3.3%) were isolated. Seasonal patterns were seen for diarrhea associated with S. aureus, S. coli and V. parahaemolyticus, while Salmonella and Shigella infections showed slight seasonal variation. We found that S. aureus and Salmonella were more frequently isolated from children and the elderly; however, the prevalence of E. coli, V. parahaemolyticus, and Shigella were similar in different age groups. Routine monitoring of these infections is considered a worthwhile means by which to elucidate their epidemiology and modes of transmission and ultimately to control them more effectively. Continuous laboratory-based surveillance for findings of enteritis bacterial infection should be emphasized in the prevention of these infections.

• 보건교육건강증진학회지
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.201-210
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• 2013

Objectives: The public relies on the news media to understand health risks. To examine the surveillance function of Korean health journalism, this study compared the rank-order of the 10 most frequently diagnosed cancers with that of the 10 cancers most frequently covered by three major Korean newspapers. Methods: News stories published between 1999 and 2010 by the Chosun-Ilbo, Joong-Ang-Ilbo, and Dong-A-Ilbo were examined. Data on cancer incidence were collected using the epidemiological data published by a governmental public health institution. To compare the level of the crude rates and the amount of news coverage, rank-order correlation tests and regression analyses were employed. Results: A reduction in the rank-ordered correlation coefficient was observed despite an increase in the overall number of cancer news stories released. The significance of the correlation disappeared after 2006. The big difference of the rank order between the crude rate and the amount of news coverage was observed in the cancer of breast, uteri, thyroid, and gallbladder/biliary. Finally, the three newspapers did not follow the amount change in stomach, lung, liver, and uterine cervix cancer. The four cancers' rank orders of crude rate were lowering, signifying a reduction of the comparative dangerousness of the four cancers. Conclusions: The news media's customization of news content and the negative bias in journalism are suggested as possible influences on the news media's inaccurate representation of cancer risk.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.253-262
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• 2022

We aimed to review the current data composition of the Korean Tuberculosis and Post-Tuberculosis Cohort, which was constructed by linking the Korean Tuberculosis Surveillance System (KNTSS; established and operated by the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency since 2000) and the National Health Information Database (NHID; established by the National Health Insurance Service in 2012). The following data were linked: KNTSS data pertaining to patients diagnosed with tuberculosis between 2011 and 2018, NHID data of patients with a history of tuberculosis and related diseases between 2006 and 2018, and data (obtained from the Statistics Korea database) on causes of death. Data from 300 117 tuberculosis patients (177 206 men and 122 911 women) were linked. The rate of treatment success for new cases was highest in 2015 (86.7%), with a gradual decrease thereafter. The treatment success rate for previously treated cases showed an increasing trend until 2014 (79.0%) and decreased thereafter. In total, 53 906 deaths were confirmed among tuberculosis patients included in the cohort. The Korean Tuberculosis and Post-Tuberculosis Cohort can be used to analyze different measurement variables in an integrated manner depending on the data source. Therefore, these cohort data can be used in future epidemiological studies and research on policy-effect analysis, treatment outcome analysis, and health-related behaviors such as treatment discontinuation.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제45권5호
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• pp.277-282
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• 2012

Field epidemiology involves the implementation of quick and targeted public health interventions with the aid of epidemiological methods. In this article, we share our practical experiences in outbreak management and in safeguarding the population against novel diseases. Given that cities represent the financial nexuses of the global economy, global health security necessitates the safeguard of cities against epidemic diseases. Singapore's public health landscape has undergone a systemic and irreversible shift with global connectivity, rapid urbanization, ecological change, increased affluence, as well as shifting demographic patterns over the past two decades. Concomitantly, the threat of epidemics, ranging from severe acute respiratory syndrome and influenza A (H1N1) to the resurgence of vector-borne diseases as well as the rise of modern lifestyle-related outbreaks, have worsened difficulties in safeguarding public health amidst much elusiveness and unpredictability. One critical factor that has helped the country overcome these innate and man-made public health vulnerabilities is the development of a resilient field epidemiology service, which includes our enhancement of surveillance and response capacities for outbreak management, and investment in public health leadership. We offer herein the Singapore story as a case study in meeting the challenges of disease control in our modern built environment.