• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.80-81
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• 2003

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.61-67
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• 2015

Norovirus is a major cause of viral gastroenteritis and a common cause of foodborne and waterborne outbreaks. Norovirus outbreaks are responsible for economic losses, most notably to the public health and food industry field. Norovirus has characteristics such as low infectious dose, prolonged shedding period, strong stability, great diversity, and frequent genome mutations. Besides these characteristics, they are known for rapid and extensive spread in closed settings such as hospitals, hotels, and schools. Norovirus is well known as a major agent of food-poisoning in diverse settings in South Korea. For these reasons, nationwide surveillance for norovirus is active in both clinical and environmental settings in South Korea. Recent studies have reported the emergence of variants and novel recombinants of norovirus. In this review, we summarized studies on the molecular epidemiology and nationwide surveillance of norovirus in South Korea. This review will provide information for vaccine development and prediction of new emerging variants of norovirus in South Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.637-642
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• 2010

We investigated the prevalence and the molecular characteristics of vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from clinical samples at tertiary or general hospitals participating in a nationwide surveillance program for VISA and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) in Korea during an 8-week period in each year from 2001 to 2006. Of 41,639 MRSAs isolated, 37,856 were screened and 169 grew on brain heart infusion agar supplemented with 4 ${\mu}g/ml$ vancomycin. A vancomycin MIC of 4 ${\mu}g/ml$ was confirmed for 33 VISA isolates of the 169 isolates. Eighteen of the 33 isolates were classified as hetero-VISA (hVISA) by the population analysis profile (PAP) method. All VISA isolates were susceptible to linezolid, tigecycline, and quinupristin-dalfopristin. Most VISA isolates (MIC 4 ${\mu}g/ml$) showed a PFGE C pattern with sec, seg, and sei enterotoxin genes, including ST5-SCCmec type II, or a PFGE A pattern with sea, including ST239-SCCmec type III.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.39-42
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• 2019

While the notified crude incidence rates(per 100,000 persons, CIR) of new tuberculosis between 2016 and 2017 decreased in nationwide and 16 provinces, except Jeju Province, Korea. The aim of this study was to compare CIRs of Jeju Province and nationwide by calendar years and age groups in order to interpret the increasing trend of CIR in Jeju Province. The data source was the Integrated Diseases and Health Control System of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The selection criteria were the notified new cases as tuberculosis, who had the address as Jeju Province at diagnosis, between 2011 and 2018. The 95% confidence interval of CIR was estimated based on Poisson distribution. There was not statistically significant difference of CIRs between Nationwide and Jeju Province of 2011 and 2018, except 2016. Especially the CIR of group aged over 65 years in Jeju Province, 2016 was significantly lower compared to Nationwide CIR. But, the CIR of group aged 30~50 between 2017 and 2018 showed significantly higher compared to Nationwide CIR. Based on the results, the fact of increasing CIR from 2016 to 2017 in Jeju Province might be interpreted as an introduction of new tuberculosis screening project rather than real increased CIRs.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.219-224
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• 2008

Due to heightened concerns regarding possible bioterrorist attacks, the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention introduced syndromic surveillance systems, which have been run by emergency departments in hospitals throughout Korea since 2002. These systems are designed to identify illness clusters before diagnoses are confirmed and reported to public health agencies, to mobilize a rapid response, and thereby to reduce morbidity and mortality. The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention performed drop-in syndromic surveillance successfully during the World Cup Football Games in 2002, the Universiad games in 2004, and the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in 2005. In addition, sustainable syndromic surveillance system involving the collaborative efforts of 125 sentinel hospitals has been in operation nationwide since 2002. Because active data collection can bias decisions a physician makes, there is a need to generate an automatic and passive data collection system. Therefore, the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention plans to establish computerized automatic data collection systems in the near future. These systems will be used not only fur the early detection of bioterrorism but also for more effective public health responses to disease.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.327-334
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• 2010

The prevalence of major zoonotic diseases such as tuberculosis, brucellosis and the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Jeonbuk province was monitored from 2004 to 2008. For tuberculosis, a total of 306 heads from 92 farms were positive during the surveillance period, which 228 heads were from 78 dairy farms and 78 heads from 14 Hanwoo farms. Based on the number of recurrent tuberculosis in 92 positive farms, 28 farms or 43.8% of the positive farms had 1-4 additional outbreaks during the surveillance. Based on brucellosis surveillance of 5,252 dairy cattle and 2,600,829 Hanwoo conducted during the same time period, 4,818 heads from 1,203 farms were positive for brucellosis, which 445 heads were from 111 dairy farms and 4,373 heads from 1,092 Hanwoo farms. Among the 1,203 positive farms, 473 farms or 39.3% of the positive farms had experienced 1-4 recurrent brucellosis during the surveillance. According to nationwide surveillance of HPAI, a total of 45 cases had been reported between 2004 and 2008. Among those outbreaks, 20 cases were reported in Jeonbuk province and 3 cases in 2006 and 17 case in 2008. For the regional distribution of 20 cases in Jeonbuk, 4 cases (48,490 chickens), 4 cases (23,066 chickens 66(1) and ducks 23,000(3)), 11 cases (183,077 chickens 63,077 (10) and quails 120,000 (1)), and 1 case (9,000 ducks) were reported in Iksan, Jeongeup, Gimje and Sunchang, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Food Hygiene and Safety Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.73-96
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• 2006

$\square$ A nationwide surveillance including 17 provincial labs has been established $\square$ Noroviruses are involved in recent viral gastroenteritis outbreaks and sproradic viral gastroenteritis cases in Korea $\square$ Analysis of RDRP and capsid regions of norovirus strains shows that various genotypes were circulated in Korea $\square$ Early detection of outbreaks cases (2004 Jeju-cause of epidemic) $\square$ New variant or emerging strain detection: variant GII4 and GIIb $\square$ Detection of Sapoviruses from AGE patients in 2003-4

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2008

Purpose: There has been no nationwide surveillance survey of poisoning cases in Korea. This study examined the clinical characteristics of poisoning admissions in order to obtain preliminary data for future planning. Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed the data on poisoning admissions of 150 hospitals based on the hospital discharge injury surveillance data of Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Korea from January to December in 2004. The demographic data, poisons used, causes of poisoning, reasons for attempted suicide and mortality rate was investigated according to the age group. The factors associated with mortality were also evaluated. Results: A total 836 patients admitted for poisoning were analyzed. Their mean age was $46.5{\pm}19.5$ years (male 415, female 421). The most frequent age group was the 4th and 5th decades. The most common poisons involved were pesticides (45%) and medications (23%). The majority (64%) involved intentional poisoning except for those in the 1st decade. The most common reason for the attempted suicide was family problems. However, individual disease was the most common reason in those over 60 years. The overall mortality rate was 8.7% (73/836). Pesticides and being elderly (over 65 years old) were strongly correlated with fatality. Conclusion: The incidence of intentional poisoning increases from the 2nd decade making it a preventable injury. "Overall, the incidence of intentional poisoning increases from the 2nd decade". Therefore, there is a need to frame a prevention policy corresponding to each factor related to fatality, such as an elderly population and pesticides.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2017

Six major outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) occurred from 2003 to 2016 in Korea. Epidemiological investigations of each outbreak revealed that migratory birds were the primary source of the HPAI virus. During the last five years, the geographic transmission pattern of domestic HPAI seems to have extended from local to nationwide; therefore, it is necessary to identify specific locations in which poultry farms are at elevated risk for HPAI outbreak to enable targeted surveillance and other mitigation strategies. Here, a geographical information system (GIS)-based analysis was used to identify geographic areas at high risk for future HPAI incidents in Korea based on historical outbreak data collected between December 2003 and April 2016. To accomplish this, seven criteria were used to identify areas at high-risk for HPAI occurrence. The first three criteria were based on defined spatial criteria buffering of 200 bird migration sites to some defined extents and the historical incidence of HPAI outbreaks at the buffering sites. The remaining criteria were based on combined attribute information such as number of birds or farms at district levels. Based on the criteria established for this study, the most-likely areas at higher risk for HPAI outbreak were located in Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeonggi, and Gyeongnam provinces, which are densely populated poultry regions considered major poultry-production areas that are located along bird migration sites. The proportion of areas at risk for HPAI occurrence ranged from 4.5% to 64.9%. For the worst criteria, all nine provinces, including Jeju Island, were found to be at risk of HPAI. The results of this study indicate that the number of poultry farms at risk for HPAI outbreaks is largely underestimated by current regulatory risk assessment procedures conducted for biosecurity authorization. The HPAI risk map generated in this study will enable easy use of information by policy makers to identify surveillance zones and employ targeted surveillance to reduce the impact of HPAI transmission.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 2020

Jeju Province has unique geographical and climatologic characteristics compared with other areas in Korea. Thus it needs to evaluate the status of nationwide notifiable infectious diseases(NND) continuously. The aim was to conduct a descriptive study for NNDs in Jeju Province, 2001~2019. The source of data was on the Infectious Disease Statistics System operated by Centers for Diseases Control & Prevention in Korea between 1 September 2001 and 31 August 2019. When calculating the proportion of the sum of years showing a higher incidence in Jeju province than nationwide divided by the sum of comparing years, the NDD with the proportion of the sum of years over 75% in 2001~2019 included varicella and syphilis. The results support significant evidence to plan strategies and distribute community resources for the control and prevention of NND in Jeju Province, Korea.