• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제63권4호
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• pp.119-124
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• 2020

A cluster of severe pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan City, Hubei province in China emerged in December 2019. A novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was isolated from lower respiratory tract sample as the causative agent. The current outbreak of infections with SARS-CoV-2 is termed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO). COVID-19 rapidly spread into at least 114 countries and killed more than 4,000 people by March 11 2020. WHO officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020. There have been 2 novel coronavirus outbreaks in the past 2 decades. The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2003 caused by SARS-CoV had a case fatality rate of around 10% (8,098 confirmed cases and 774 deaths), while Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) caused by MERS-CoV killed 861 people out of a total 2,502 confirmed cases between 2012 and 2019. The purpose of this review is to summarize known-to-date information about SARS-CoV-2, transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and clinical features.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제48권6호
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• pp.265-270
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• 2015

The recent Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak has originated from a failure in the national quarantine system in the Republic of Korea as most basic role of protecting the safety and lives of its citizens. Furthermore, a number of the Korean healthcare system's weaknesses seem to have been completely exposed. The MERS-CoV outbreak can be considered a typical public health crisis in that the public was not only greatly terrorized by the actual fear of the disease, but also experienced a great impact to their daily lives, all in a short period of time. Preparedness for and an appropriate response to a public health crisis require comprehensive systematic public healthcare measures to address risks comprehensively with an all-hazards approach. Consequently, discussion regarding establishment of post-MERS-CoV improvement measures must focus on the total reform of the national quarantine system and strengthening of the public health infrastructure. In addition, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must implement specific strategies of action including taking on the role of "control tower" in a public health emergency, training of Field Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, establishment of collaborative governance between central and local governments for infection prevention and control, strengthening the roles and capabilities of community-based public hospitals, and development of nationwide crisis communication methods.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.30.1-30.7
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• 2020

The novel coronavirus pandemic that has originated from China and spread throughout the world in three months. Genome of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) predecessor, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) play an important role in understanding the concept of genetic variation. In this paper, the genomic data accessed from National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) through Molecular Evolutionary Genetic Analysis (MEGA) for statistical analysis. Firstly, the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) and Akaike information criterion (AICc) are used to evaluate the best substitution pattern. Secondly, the maximum likelihood method used to estimate of transition/transversions (R) through Kimura-2, Tamura-3, Hasegawa-Kishino-Yano, and Tamura-Nei nucleotide substitutions model. Thirdly and finally nucleotide frequencies computed based on genomic data of NCBI. The results indicate that general times reversible model has the lowest BIC and AICc score 347,394 and 347,287, respectively. The transition/transversions bias for nucleotide substitutions models varies from 0.56 to 0.59 in MEGA output. The average nitrogenous bases frequency of U, C, A, and G are 31.74, 19.48, 28.04, and 20.74, respectively in percentages. Overall the genomic data analysis of SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV highlights the close genetic relationship.

• 한국임상약학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.9-14
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• 2017

Background: Pharmacy curriculum change was made from a 4-year program to a 2+4 year program in year 2009 in Korea. The change has resulted in more educational exposures on patient-centered practice environments for about 1,400 hours in the last year of the professional pharmacy program. When the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak hit Seoul and suburban areas and propagated to other provinces in Korea, emergency response to avoid student infection in the pharmacy practice sites became an urgent issue. While other health professional programs such as medicine and nursing had activated emergency preparedness manuals, timely and clear guidelines were not disseminated to all pharmacy programs and protective measures largely relied on individual pharmacy program. Methods: A survey was developed by the Committee on Pharmacy Practice Experience Programs in the Korean College of Clinical Pharmacy to document the status of pharmacy programs during the Korea MERS outbreak in 2015. The 10-question survey was distributed to the pharmacy practice experience coordinators to 34 out of 35 pharmacy schools in Korea by emails. Results: Our findings showed that 82.4% of the program coordinators (28/34) responded to the survey, 96.4% of the programs did not have emergency preparedness manuals, administrative meetings were held in 89.3% of the pharmacy programs, the rotation schedules were modified or withheld in 53.6% of schools, and the changes were mostly observed from the programs classified as MERS outbreak regions. Conclusion: Further needs in establishing the emergency preparedness manual should be explored for pharmacy education stakeholders.

• 유통과학연구
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• 제14권6호
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• pp.89-98
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• 2016

Purpose - This article tackles risk communication issues and aims to address the characteristics of MERS risk information distribution in South Korea, and secondly to examine the communicative behavior of the public health authority in terms of the quality of communication strategies. Thirdly, the study attempts to figure out the risk communication to cope with MERS through the applications of SMCRE model in chronological order. We employ the social amplification of risk framework for analyzing the emergent public response as one of the main approaches. Research Design, Data and Methodology - The main framework of this study is theoretically based on the social amplification of risk, which describes signals about risk transmitted and processed by individuals and social groups. The model also reflects the interactions between social groups and institutes about disaster-related risk issues, which are potential amplifiers or attenuators of communication signals. S-M-C-R-E Model is methodologically employed to examine the social amplification for MERS risk information in each period, which we defined operationally. The proposed methodology allows the assessment of effectiveness and ineffectiveness on risk communication to be conceptualized as a countermeasure against disasters. The paper focuses on exploring how social risk amplification can be applied and organized in each stage. Results - The SMCRE model describes the exchange of risk information and is also applied to all forms of communication between stakeholders including public health authority, local government and media. Each factor of risk communication includes source, message, channel, receiver and effect. The results support that the effective risk communication involves not only the improved reliability of public health authority as a key factor of risk communication, but also a close cooperation and good collaboration with local governments. It does not seem to be possible that the government-initiated risk communication based on controllability and management cope effectively with infectious disease in early stage. The results of this study imply that the shared risks between local, regional and national authorities can enhance risk communication system. Conclusions - The study supports that the disparities in how disaster-related risk information is interpreted and coded, have made effective risk communication and public sense-making impeded. Our findings support a more communicative discussion about the role of risk information sharing between governments for the improvement of emergency management and underline the importance of social elements in the risk communication, such as relationship and trust building. Findings suggest that trust building between stakeholders could be added to help explain the processes of social amplification and attenuation of risk. It would be recommended that the continuous risk communication with all the involved stakeholders will be able to help national health promotion policy to be improved regarding emergency management. Furthermore, risk communication has to be a scientific approach for the communication pertaining to potentially sensitive or controversial situations with public concerns and low public trust.

• 정보관리학회지
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.273-287
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• 2015

본 연구는 국민들에게 불안감을 야기하고 전반적인 사회활동을 위축시키는 메르스와 같은 질병의 유행이 공공도서관의 이용에 어떠한 영향을 주는지 알아보고자 하였다. 이를 위해 국립세종도서관에 위치하고 있는 "공공도서관 빅데이터 수집 및 분석 플랫폼"을 통해 전국 303개 공공도서관에서 수집된 18,711,453건의 대출기록을 분석하였다. 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 메르스가 유행했던 2015년도는 64,645.05권으로 2014년보다 하루 평균 6,300권 가량 대출책수가 감소하였다. 둘째, 2014년의 경우 7월 5일부터 8월 19일까지의 일평균 대출책수가 4월 4일부터 5월 19일까지와 5월 20일부터 7월 4일까지보다 많은 것으로 나타났다. 이는 학생들의 여름방학이 공공도서관의 대출책수 증가에 영향을 주었을 것으로 파악할 수 있다. 셋째, 메르스가 발생했던 2015년의 경우 메르스 유행 후 기간의 일평균 대출책수가 메르스 유행기간인 5월 20일부터 7월 4일까지보다 많은 것으로 나타났으나 메르스 유행 전 기간과는 유의한 차이가 존재하지 않았다. 넷째, 2014년과 2015년의 메르스 유행 전 기간의 일평균 대출책수와 2014년과 2015년의 메르스 유행 기간의 일평균 대출책수에는 유의한 차이가 없었으나, 2014년과 2015년의 메르스 유행 후 기간의 일평균 대출책수에서는 유의한 차이가 있었다. 연구 결과 국민들에게 불안감을 가져다 준 메르스는 질병의 유행 기간 보다는 오히려 유행 후 기간 동안 공공도서관의 일평균 대출책수에 영향을 주었음을 확인할 수 있었다.

• 한국산학기술학회논문지
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.721-731
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• 2019

본 연구는 신종호흡기감염병(SARS와 MERS) 간호경험이 없는 간호사를 대상으로 신종호흡기감염병에 대한 지식, 태도, 감염관리활동 의도와 교육요구도를 파악하고자 시도되었다. 2017년 10월 10일부터 10월 31일까지 B광역시 소재 일 종합병원에서 근무하는 간호사 162명을 대상으로 구조화된 설문지를 이용하여 자료를 수집하였다. 본 연구의 결과, 연령이 30세 이상, 기혼, 고학력, 총 근무경력이 5년 이상에서 신종호흡기감염병 감염관리활동 의도가 높았다. 또한 간호사의 신종호흡기감염병 감염관리활동 의도는 신종호흡기감염병 지식(r=.27, p<.001), 신종호흡기감염병 태도(r=.65, p<.001)와 양의 상관관계를 나타냈다. 즉 신종 호흡기감염병에 대한 지식점수가 높을수록 태도가 긍정적이고, 감염관리활동 의도가 높은 것으로 나타냈다. 또한 잠복기, 치료, 격리 및 해제기준 관련 지식점수는 낮으면서 교육 요구도는 높은 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 향후 신종호흡기감염병의 재유행 및 또 다른 신종호흡기감염성 발생가능성에 대비하여 경력에 따른 체계적인 교육프로그램의 개발 및 교육 요구도가 높았던 내용을 포함한 구체적인 교육을 주기적으로 시행하여 신종호흡기감염병 감염관리 역량을 증진시킬 필요가 있다.

• 대한불안의학회지
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.45-52
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• 2019

Objective : The objective of this study is to determine the effects of fear of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) on socio-psychological health during an outbreak of MERS and the post-traumatic stress as a mediator on the relationship between stress and socio-psychological health. Methods : Visual Analog Scale, Impact of Event Scale -Revised, Psychosocial well-being index short form was implemented for 150 medical persons who worked at the hospital in which exposure to MERS cases had been confirmed and 96 ordinary people. A Pearson correlation coefficient and a hierarchical multiple regression was carried out to confirm the effect of fear of MERS and the mediating effect of post-traumatic stress between fear and socio-psychological health. Results : The higher the fear, the lower the socio-psychological health in both healthcare workers and the public (r=0.32, p<0.01) and the higher post-traumatic stress (r=0.32, p<0.01). But, the research results showed that only healthcare workers had a partially mediating effect of post-traumatic stress in the relationship between fear and socio-psychological health (${\beta}=0.45$, t=6.33 p<0.001), (${\beta}$ value : 0.39>0.26). Conclusion : This study demonstrated that the post-traumatic stress can indirectly lead to a negative effect on the socio-psychological health of healthcare workers when under the fear of MERS and shows adverse effects on psycho-social wellbeing. This suggests that clinical intervention and psycho-social approach aiming at reducing post-traumatic stress is important to maintain mental health during crisis development.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제48권4호
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• pp.179-179
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• 2015

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제49권1호
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• pp.18-22
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• 2016

Ethical considerations are essential in planning for and responding to outbreaks of infectious diseases. During the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the Republic of Korea in 2015, serious challenges emerged regarding important ethical issues, such as transparency and the protection of privacy. The development of bioethics in Korea has been influenced by individualistic perspectives applied in clinical contexts, leading to a paucity of ethical perspectives relevant to population-level phenomena such as outbreaks. Alternative theories of public health ethics include the perspectives of relational autonomy and the patient as victim and vector. Public health actions need to incorporate clear and systematic procedures founded upon ethical principles. The MERS-CoV epidemic in Korea created significant public support for more aggressive early interventions in future outbreaks. This trend makes it all the more imperative for ethical principles and procedures to be implemented in future planning and responses to outbreaks in order to promote perceptions of legitimacy and civic participation.