• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Disaster Information Conference
• /
• 2015.11a
• /
• pp.298-299
• /
• 2015

본 논문은 2013년 5월 국제바이러스 분류 위원회에서 중동호흡기증후군을 일으키는 신종 코로나바이러스를 메르스코로나바이러스(MERS-CoV)라 명명한 후, 2015년 5월 국내에 감염자가 들어와 이후 확산되고, 중동 호흡기 증후군 환자 발생 후 국내 첫 사망자가 발생한 일개 병원 지역응급의료센터 내원 후 확산을 막기 위하여 시행하였던 경험들을 공유하고자 한 내용이다.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.11.1-11.10
• /
• 2021

Coronavirus causes an infectious disease in various species and crosses the species barriers leading to the outbreak of zoonotic diseases. Due to the respiratory diseases are mainly caused in humans and viruses are replicated and excreted through the respiratory tract, the nasal fluid and sputum are mainly used for diagnosis. Early diagnosis of coronavirus plays an important role in preventing its spread and is essential for quarantine policies. For rapid decision and prompt triage of infected host, the immunochromatographic assay (ICA) has been widely used for point of care testing. However, when the ICA is applied to an expectorated sputum in which antigens are present, the viscosity of sputum interferes with the migration of the antigens on the test strip. To overcome this limitation, it is necessary to use a mucolytic agent without affecting the antigens. In this study, we combined known mucolytic agents to lower the viscosity of sputum and applied that to alpha and beta coronavirus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), respectively, spiked in sputum to find optimal pretreatment conditions. The pretreatment method using tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) and BSA was suitable for ICA diagnosis of sputum samples spiked with PEDV and MERS-CoV. This sensitive assay for the detection of coronavirus in sputum provides an useful information for the diagnosis of pathogen in low respiratory tract.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.12
• /
• pp.2014-2021
• /
• 2019

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) belongs to the genus Betacoronavirus and causes severe morbidity and mortality in humans especially when infected patients have underlying diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Previously, we demonstrated that MERS-CoV-encoded ORF8b strongly inhibits MDA5- and RIG-I-mediated induction of the interferon beta (IFN-β) promoter activities. Here, we report that ORF8b seemed to regulate MDA5 or RIG-I differentially as protein levels of MDA5 were significantly down-regulated while those of RIG-I were largely unperturbed. In addition, ORF8b seemed to efficiently suppress phosphorylation of IRF3 at the residues of 386 and 396 in cells transfected with RIG-I while total endogenous levels of IRF3 remained largely unchanged. Furthermore, ORF8b was able to inhibit all forms of RIG-I; full-length, RIG-I-1-734, and RIG-I-1-228, the last of which contains only the CARD domains. Taken together, it is tempting to postulate that ORF8b may interfere with the CARD-CARD interactions between RIG-I and MAVS. Further detailed analysis is required to delineate the mechanisms of how ORF8b inhibits the MDA5/RIG-I receptor signaling pathway.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.427-435
• /
• 2016

Recently, hand washing has been emphasized as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS) threatened public health. This study aimed to prevent MERS by hand washing frequency and analyzed the relationship between hand washing behavior and trait anxiety, locus of control and health promotion behavior. In this study, 314 nursing students participated in a survey where they could indicate what they did and the frequency of hand washing for preventing MERS. They also responded to questions related to the trait anxiety, locus of control, and health promotion behavior. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression. The frequency of hand washing was highest among the measures that the participants used and it was significantly related to the participants who reported high scores for the importance of hand washing. In addition, the importance of hand washing was impacted by the internal locus of control. Most nursing students who participated the survey acknowledged that hand washing was the most important method for preventing MERS. Therefore, it is important to educate people on the importance of hand washing and pay attention to personal characteristics, such as internal locus of control to promote hand-washing.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.311-319
• /
• 2020

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a newly emerging viral disease with fatal outcomes. However, no MERS-CoV-specific treatment is commercially available. Given the absence of previous structure-based drug discovery studies targeting MERS-CoV fusion proteins, this set of compounds is considered the first generation of MERS-CoV small molecule fusion inhibitors. After a virtual screening campaign of 1.56 million compounds followed by cell-cell fusion assay and MERS-CoV plaques inhibition assay, three new compounds were identified. Compound numbers 22, 73, and 74 showed IC₅₀ values of 12.6, 21.8, and 11.12 µM, respectively, and were most effective at the onset of spike-receptor interactions. The compounds exhibited safe profiles against Human embryonic kidney cells 293 at a concentration of 20 µM with no observed toxicity in Vero cells at 10 µM. The experimental results are accompanied with predicted favorable pharmacokinetic descriptors and drug-likeness parameters. In conclusion, this study provides the first generation of MERS-CoV fusion inhibitors with potencies in the low micromolar range.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.41.1-41.16
• /
• 2022

The human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 has chemotactic and modulatory activities in various immune cells, including dendritic cells. Because of its characteristics, LL-37 can be considered an adjuvant for vaccine development. In this study, we confirmed the possible adjuvant activity of LL-37 in mucosal vaccine development against Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV) by means of intranasal immunization in C57BL/6 and human dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (hDPP4)-transgenic (hDPP4-Tg) mice. Intranasal immunization using the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of MERS-CoV spike protein (S-RBD) recombined with LL-37 (S-RBD-LL-37) induced an efficient mucosal IgA and systemic IgG response with virus-neutralizing activity, compared with S-RBD. Ag-specific CTL stimulation was also efficiently induced in the lungs of mice that had been intranasally immunized with S-RBD-LL-37, compared with S-RBD. Importantly, intranasal immunization of hDPP4-Tg mice with S-RBD-LL-37 led to reduced immune cell infiltration into the lungs after infection with MERS-CoV. Finally, intranasal immunization of hDPP4-Tg mice with S-RBD-LL-37 led to enhanced protective efficacy, with increased survival and reduced body weight loss after challenge infection with MERS-CoV. Collectively, these results suggest that S-RBD-LL-37 is an effective intranasal vaccine candidate molecule against MERS-CoV infection.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.207-217
• /
• 2017

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the workplace response system (WRS) against infectious disasters (IDs) based on the response attitudes and capacity of occupational health nurses (OHNs) who worked during the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in South Korea. Methods: Fifty-one participants who had worked as OHNs at the time of the 2015 MERS outbreak were surveyed from November 20 to December 10, 2016. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and McNemaer's test. Results: According to the survey results, the following were lacking in the WRS: a dedicated ID-response team, manuals, related education programs for OHNs, and health education programs for workers. Results also confirmed that workers were vulnerable to new infectious diseases because of the lack of health checkups and support for workers before and after business trips abroad. Among the respondents, 98.0% answered affirmatively that an ID was important for health management in the workplace, but 64.7% answered that it was difficult to manage an ID. The perceived capacity items to respond to IDs ranged from 3.0 points to 3.3 points. This scores were generally high. Conclusion: As the WRS is currently insufficient, it is necessary to develop an adequate WRS to IDs by addressing the identified problems.

• Korean Security Journal
• /
• no.52
• /
• pp.145-162
• /
• 2017

In 2005, the Republic of Korea suffered from the outbreak of MERS(Middle East respiratory syndrome), leaving 186 infectees and 38 casualties. Responding to this crisis, Korean government revealed many problems in emergency management policies and was widely criticized. A similar case in emergency management and infectious disease control is the 1999 outbreak of West Nile Virus(WNV) outbreak in the United States. During this period, the state of Oregon effectively responded to WNV through collaboration between state and local government, being considered as a model case of emergency management. This article aims to find insights in emergency management and infectious disease control by analyzing and comparing the responses of Korean MERS outbreak and Oregon's WNV outbreak focusing on interorganizational collaboration. Insights found in this study include the role of control tower, the importance of information sharing and disclosure, the role of existing systems and social networks, and sustainable intergovernmental collaboration.

• Korean Medical Education Review
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.99-105
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study was to inquire into the knowledge of medical students on the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and evaluate whether infection prevention education impacts students' level of knowledge and individual hygiene practices. This study also investigated the route by which medical students obtain disease-related information. The study involved a survey conducted in August of 2015 at two medical schools in Busan. In the first year to fourth year, a total of 345 students are enrolled (111 students in A school and 234 students in B school). Before the study was carried out, university A performed infection prevention education related to MERS, but B did not. We used self-developed questionnaires to survey the demographic characteristics, routes of acquisition of MERS information, degree of knowledge of MERS, educational satisfaction, and personal hygiene practices before and after education. Knowledge level differences according to gender and year in school were not statistically significant. Students obtained their information about MERS from various news media sources and the Internet, and through social network sites. Students practiced sanitary control behaviors in an average of 2.2 manners (standard deviation=0.95). The level of knowledge of MERS revealed a positive correlation with the frequency and total numbers of personal hygiene practices. This finding suggests that the infection prevention education program played a role in knowledge acquisition and personal hygiene practices for the medical students. In order to provide accurate and reliable knowledge of disease and preventive health behavior to medical students, continuous and well-planned education programs are necessary.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.175-184
• /
• 2017

This study was conducted to identify factors influencing turnover intention of nurses that were cohort quarantined during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome(MERS) outbreak. Subjects of this study were 267 nurses from three hospitals that came in direct or indirect contact with diagnosed MERS and suspected MERS patients and were group quarantined during the 2015 MERS breakout. The data were collected from October 1, 2015 through November 30, 2015. The collected data were evaluated based on descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA and multivariate regression conducted using the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. The factors influencing turnover intention were work experience and usual stress levels. While nurses tending to MERS patients had the highest stress levels (p<.001), different types of patient care during the MERS outbreak did not yield to a statistically significant turnover intention. Theresults of this study indicate that work experience and usual stress levels impact turnover intention of nurses and because the stress resulting from the MERS outbreak did not significantly affect the turnover intention, further human resource management is required to reduce the usual stress levels of nurses.