• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.67-69
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• 2020

Controversy remains over whether the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus may have infectivity during the incubation period before the onset of symptoms. The author had the opportunity to examine the infectivity of COVID-19 during the incubation period by conducting an epidemiological survey on a confirmed patient who had visited Jeju Island during the incubation period. The epidemiological findings support the claim that the COVID-19 virus does not have infectivity during the incubation period.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2002

Objective : To estimate the status of HIV infection and AIDS incidence using a back-calculation model in Korea. Methods : Back-calculation is a method for estimating the past infection rate using AIDS incidence data. The method has been useful for obtaining short-term projections of AIDS incidence and estimating previous HIV prevalence. If the density of the incubation periods is known, together with the AIDS incidence, we can estimate historical HIV infections and forecast AIDS incidence in any time period up to time t. In this paper, we estimated the number of HIV infections and AIDS incidence according to the distribution of various incubation periods Results : The cumulative numbers of HIV infection from 1991 to 1996 were $708{\sim}1,426$ in Weibull distribution and $918{\sim}1,980$ in Gamma distribution. The projected AIDS incidence in 1997 was $16{\sim}25$ in Weibull distribution and $13{\sim}26$ in Gamma distribution. Conclusions : The estimated cumulative HIV infections from 1991 to 1996 were $1.4{\sim}4.0$ times more than notified cumulative HIV infections. Additionally, the projected AIDS incidence in 1997 was less than the notified AIDS cases. The reason for this underestimation derives from the very low level of HIV prevalence in Korea, further research is required for the distribution of the incubation period of HIV infection in Korea, particularly for the effects of combination treatments.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.487-500
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• 2014

A new method to calculate the transmittable prevalence of an epidemic disease is proposed based on a back-calculation formula. We calculated the probabilities of reactivation and of parasitemia as well as transmittable prevalence (the number of persons with parasitemia in the incubation period) of malaria in South Korea using incidence of 12 years(2001-2012). For this computation, a new probability function of transmittable condition is obtained. The probability of reactivation is estimated by the least squares method for the back-calculated longterm incubation period. The probability of parasitemia is calculated by a convolution of the survival function of the short-term incubation function and the probability of reactivation. Transmittable prevalence is computed by a convolution of the infected numbers and the probabilities of transmission. Confidence intervals are calculated using the parametric bootstrap method. The method proposed is applicable to other epidemic diseases in other countries where incidence and a long incubation period are available. We found the estimated transmittable prevalence in South Korea was concentrated in the summer with 276 cases on a peak at the $31^{st}$ week and with about a 60% reduction in the peak from the naive prevalence. The statistics of transmittable prevalence can be used for malaria prevention programs and to select blood transfusion donors.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.370-375
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• 2021

Objectives: The number of cases of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infections has sharply increased in Korea, especially among young adults. In this study, an HAV outbreak in a facility for disabled people was investigated, and we found epidemiological differences both between 2 different generations and between generally abled and disabled groups. Methods: We analyzed the incubation period and attack rate of an HAV outbreak and investigated the prevalence of HAV antibodies among the staff and residents of a facility for the disabled. We performed a retrospective cohort study during the HAV outbreak, which lasted from February 8 to 25, 2019, including examinations of HAV antibody tests and post-exposure HAV vaccination for the staff or residents of the facility. Results: There were 9 confirmed cases in 2 staff members and 7 residents. Among 53 people (30 staff and 23 residents), except for the 9 confirmed cases and 1 staff member with a known history of HAV infection, HAV seroprevalence was seen in 16.7% of the staff under 40 years of age and 95.2% of those over 40 years of age, while the corresponding rates in the residents were 0.0% and 58.8%, respectively. Conclusions: This result implies that it is necessary to prioritize HAV vaccination for vulnerable groups and workers of residential care facilities.

• The Microorganisms and Industry
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2000

Thirtythree strains of the Aspergillus spp. isolated from foodstuffs were observed through some physiological characteristics for detection of identification key of Aspergillus spp. 1) Each strain of Aspergillus spp. had their specific characteristics and could be used for identification of species. 2) Excellent amylase-producing fungi were observed among the isolated strains of Aspergillus spp. 3) Amylase activities increased for one week incubation period. 4) In the tests of common characters of aflatoxin-producing fungi among the 33 strains of Aspergillus spp., for example, conidial size, presence of sclerotia, kojic acid, and pigment production, coloration of phenol, reduction of methylene blue, etc.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.507-512
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• 2021

Since 1993, vivax malaria has been recognized as a public health burden in Korea. Despite of pan-governmental malaria-control efforts and the dramatic reduction in the burden of this disease over the last 10 years, vivax malaria has not been well controlled and has remained continuously endemic. We focused interviewed and examined the charts of 28 confirmed vivax malaria patients given malarial therapy for whom daily records were kept from Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do of Korea. Various epidemiological characteristics of vivax malaria, including the incubation period, medication used, and recurrence, and an evaluation of the parasitic characteristics from the focused interviews of patients from this region are described here. Most of the participants indicated the 3 most common symptoms of malaria (headache, chills and fever). Of the 28 cases, 2 experienced a second attack and there were 17 and 11 cases with short- and long-term incubation periods, respectively, yielding a short-term to long-term ratio of 1.5. Based on the parasitemia stages, most of the participants were tested at 5 to 7 days (11 cases) and 7 to 15 days (11 cases) after initial wave of asexual parasites. In conclusion, public health authorities should consider developing management measures to decrease the time lag for diagnosis and drafting unified and robust guidelines for drug use for malaria and drawing up unified and robust guidelines on the use of medication for malaria. It also suggests that routine monitoring, surveillance, and precise medical surveys in high-risk vivax malaria endemic areas are pivotal to controlling this persistent public disease and finally eliminating it from Korea.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.97-107
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• 1990

The epidemiology of plant disease deals with the dynamic processes of host-pathogen interactions, which determine the prevalence and severity of the disease. Epidemic processes for most foliar diseases of plants follow a series of steps: arrival of pathogens on plant surfaces, initial infection, incubation period, latent period, sporulation, dissemination of secondary inoculum, and infectious period. These complex biological processes are influenced by the environment-Man also often interfers with these processes by altering the host and pathogen populations and the environment. Slowing or halting any of the epidemic processes can delay the development of the epidemic, so that serious losses in yield due to disease do not occur. It is generally recognized that the most effective and efficient method of minimizing disease damage is through the use of resistant cultivars, particularly when other methods such as fungicide applications are not economically feasible-Populations of plant pathogens are not genetically uniform nor are they necessarily stable. Cultivars bred for resistance to current populations of a pathogen may not be resistant in the future due to selection pressures placed on the pathogen populations. Understanding population development and genetic variability in the pathogen, and knowledge of the genetics of resistance in the plant should help in developing breeding strategies that wi1l provide effective and stable disease control through genetic resistance. In the United States, soybeans have ranked first in value of crops sold off the farm in recent years. Soybeans have been the leading U. S.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2004

The circular leaf spot of persimmon is occurred almost every place where persimmon is cultivated, especially the disease outbreak severely in southern part of Korea. The disease reveals unusually long incubation period after pathogen invade into leaf tissue and no practical control measure is available once the symptom has appeared. Most of the farmers just follow the suggested spray schedules calculated on the basis of weather condition of ordinary years. Therefore the damages due to circular leaf spot greatly differ year after year. In this article, we tried to describe and summarized the investigation on the circular leaf spot pathogen, Mycosphaerella nawae, related to disease outbreak such as overwintering of pathogen, inoculum formation and spread, incubation period after infection, and secondary inoculum. With the summary of these results, we suggest the disease cycle of circular leaf spot of persimmon. The pathogen overwinters in diseased leaves as mycelial form or pseudoperithecial premodium. The pseudoperitheria become matured in spring as the temperature raise and forms asci and ascospores. The maturation of pseudoperithecia are closely related to the temperatures during March and early April. The ascospores completely mature in early May and the ascospores released when the pseudoperithecia absorbed enough moisture after rainfall. The release of ascospores are diverse greatly with the variation of maturity of pseudoperithecia. Generally the spore start to release from middle of May to early of July. Duration of ascospore release is depend on the weather condition of particular year, especially amount and number of precipitation. The ascospores produced from pseudoperithecia is known to the only inoculum for circular leaf spot disease. But according to the results obtained from our investigations, the conidia formed on the lesions which incited by natural infection. This conidia are infectious to persimmon leaves and formed identical symptom as natural infection. The time of producing secondary inoculum of circular leaf spot of persimmon is considered too late to develop new disease. Generally the importance of secondary inoculum is low but the conidia produced in early September are competent to develop new disease and new infection also significantly affect to harvest of persimmon. The importance of circular leaf spot disease is recognized well to farmers. The approaches to control of the disease should be initiated on the basis of the knowledges of inoculum dynamics and ecology of disease development. The forecasting system for circular leaf spot is need to be developed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.405-408
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• 2020

In epidemiology, the basic reproduction number (R₀) is a term that describes the expected number of infections generated by 1 case in a susceptible population. At the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, R₀ was frequently referenced by the public health community and the wider public. However, this metric is often misused or misinterpreted. Moreover, the complexity of the process of estimating R₀ has caused difficulties for a substantial number of researchers. In this article, in order to increase the accessibility of this concept, we address several misconceptions related to the threshold characteristics of R₀ and the effective reproduction number (R_t). Moreover, the appropriate interpretation of the metrics is discussed. R₀ should be considered as a population-averaged value that pools the contact structure according to a stochastic transmission process. Furthermore, it is necessary to understand the unavoidable time lag for R_t due to the incubation period of the disease.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 2009

Bovine brucellosis is a zoonosis, long incubation period and chronic infectious disease, usually caused by Brucella abortus. This study was carried out to investigate the biotyping and biochemical characterization of B. abortus isolated from 208 farm 871 korean cattle and holstein diagnosed brucellosis by serological positive in Gyeongbuk province during the period from 2002 to 2006. B. abortus was isolated from 124 (14.2%) of 871 cattle, and isolated 110 (13.4%) of 820 Korean cattle and 14 (27.5%) of 51 holstein in breed. The uterus of korean cattle was isolated in 8 (17.8%) of 45 cattle and supramammary lymph none of holstein was isolated 11 (68.8%) of 16 cattle. 101 (12.5%) of 810 serological positive blood samples were isolated B. abortus. The isolation rate of B. abortus was correlated with antibody titers. The biochemical characterization of isolates was non-hemolytic, production of H$_2$S, oxidase-positive, catalase-positive, hydrolyzation of urea and growth of basic fuchsin dye medium. As a result, all of isolates was identified B. abortus bv 1. 124 isolates were susceptible to ampicillin, lincospectin, amikacin, gentamicin, kanamycin, neomycin, streptomycin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and enrofloxacin.