• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2005

Before twentieth centuries and during early twentieth centuries, communicable diseases were the major cause of morbidity and mortality in Korea. But reliable data are not available. After 1975, the overall morbidity and mortality from communicable diseases, rapidly declined. Recently many new pathogenic microbes were recognized: L. monocytogenes, Hantaan virus, Y. pseudotuberculosis, P. multocida, L. pneumophilia, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), G. seoi, H. capsulatum, C. burnetii, V. cholerae O139, C. parvum, F. tularensis, E. coli O157:H7, B. burgdorferi, S. Typhimurium DT104, Rotavirus, hepatitis C virus and so on. Since the first HIV infection recognized in 1985, the reported cases of infection and deaths from HIV/AIDS have been steady increased each year. Legionnaire's disease, E. coli O157:H7 colitis, listeriosis and crytosporidiasis have been occurring just sporadically among immunocompromized cases. Many re-emerging communicable diseases were occurred in Korea: leptospirosis, malaria, endemic typhus, cholera, tsutsugamushi disease, salmonellosis, hepatitis A, shigellosis, mumps, measles, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, brucellosis and so on. Leptospirosis and tsutsugamushi diseases have been noticed as major public health problems since 1980s. The malaria that had been virtually disappeared for a decade has reappeared from 1993 with striking increase of patients in recent 3-4 years. The distributions of salmonella and shigella serotypes have been changed a lot in recent few decades. Furthermore rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains induces more difficult and complex problems in control of communicable diseases. We must recognize on the importance of environment and ecosystem conservation and careful prescription of anti-microbial agent in order to prevent communicable diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.6-14
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• 2022

Brucella spp. are facultative intracellular pathogens that invade, survive and proliferate in numerous phagocytic and non-phagocytic cell types, thereby leading to human and animal brucellosis. Outer membrane proteins (Omps) are major immunogenic and protective antigens that are implicated in Brucella virulence. A strain deleted of the omp16 gene has not been obtained which suggests that the Omp16 protein is vital for Brucella survival. Nevertheless, we previously constructed an omp16 conditional deletion strain of Brucella, ∆Omp16. Here, the virulence and immune response elicted by this strain were assessed in a mouse model of infection. Splenomegaly was significantly reduced at two weeks post-infection in ∆Omp16-infected mice compared to infection with the parental strain. The bacterial load in the spleen also was significantly decreased at this post-infection time point in ∆Omp16-infected mice. Histopathological changes in the spleen were observed via hematoxylin-eosin staining and microscopic examination which showed that infection with the ∆Omp16 strain alleviated spleen histopathological alterations compared to mice infected with the parental strain. Moreover, the levels of humoral and cellular immunity were similar in both ∆Omp16-infected mice and parental strain-infected mice. The results overall show that the virulence of ∆Omp16 is attenuated markedly, but that the immune responses mediated by the deletion and parental strains in mice are indistinguishable. The data provide important insights that illuminate the pathogenic strategies adopted by Brucella.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.222-229
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• 2014

Objectives: Pig farmers are known as the high risk group for the zoonoses, but the study for pig farmers to zoonoses has been rare in Korea. So we surveyed the awareness on zoonoses among pig farmers to suggest directions for education. Methods: We visited four regional spots (Gyeongsangnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Jeollanam-do, and Chungcheongnam-do) where the self education programs of Korea pork producers were convened. We conducted a questionnaire survey of the general, work-related characteristics and the awareness on zoonoses among 278 pig farmers. Results: The awareness rate of zoonoses itself, brucellosis, tuberculosis and salmonellosis were 52.9%, 85.6%, 87.8%, 89.6%, respectively. The awareness rate of the content related to zoonoses, "Human can be infected by the disease of pig", was 46.9%. Awareness rate of zoonoses tended to increase as the school career, and awareness rate of salmonellosis tended to increase as working duration of pig raising. Conclusions: The pig is the principal reservoir of zoonoses. Therefore, effective working guidelines to prevent zoonoses for pig farmers must be developed and an educational program on zoonoses is needed for pig farmers. Furthermore, publicity activities about the prevention of zoonoses are needed for high-risk groups.