• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.129-132
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• 2010

The epidemiology of reported food-borne disease (FBD) outbreaks from 2001 to 2008 in Korea nd Japan were compared in this study. The outbreak rate of FBD in Japan was significantly higher although the average umber of patient in each outbreak in Korea was much higher. In both countries, summer was the season when most FBD outbreaks occurred. The comparison study revealed that FBD outbreaks in spring were more frequent in Korea, and outbreaks in winter were more frequent in Japan. Almost half of FBD outbreaks were observed at restaurants in both countries while FBD outbreaks at schools and work-places in Korea were much higher than in Japan. The most frequent cause of bacterial FBDs in Korea was pathogenic Escherichia coli followed by Salmonella species. On the other hand, Campylobacter jejuni was the most frequent source of bacterial FBDs in Japan. Norovirus, which is elated to uncontrolled hand hygiene and involvement of ill food workers, was the main cause of viral FBDs in both countries. In conclusion, there are common epidemiological characteristics as well as several differences in FBD outbreaks of Korea and Japan. These are suggested to be originated from the characteristic of climate, food sources, and life styles in two countries. Establishment of stricter control and surveillance system for FBD outbreaks are required or prevention and reduction of FBD outbreaks in both countries.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.65-76
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• 1992

Since the first outbreaks of Newcastle disease ( ND) in Korea was reported in 1927, the disease has been a major problem in Korean poultry industry. Several attempts related ND prevention and controls have been tried and significantly reduced the ND outbreaks. However, recently frequencies of ND outbreaks have been increased throughout the country since 1988. Many assumptions such as variances of ND virus pathogenicity, decreased efficacy of ND vaccine, incorrect vaccination program etc, has been issued and discussed. Therefore, to clearly understand this recent situation of ND outbreaks in Korea, we reviewed all available past informations related with ND outbreaks in Korea and compared the virulence of recently isolated ND viruses with that of a reference one. Also, we discussed about some problems related with serological diagnosis. administration methods of vaccine and vaccination program.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.622-629
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• 2019

Objectives: The occurrence of norovirus food poisoning in South Korea has been reported since 2003. This study was performed to investigate the characteristics of norovirus food poisoning outbreaks in Korea from 2006 to 2015 and to analyze the relationship between these outbreaks and climate factors. Methods: Data on norovirus food poisoning outbreaks were obtained from the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Data on climate factors were obtained from the Korea Meteorological Administration. Frequency analysis and Pearson's correlation analysis were adopted for this study. Results: During the study period, norovirus was the greatest contributing factor of food poisoning outbreaks. Approximately half of the outbreaks of norovirus food poisoning occurred in winter. Average temperature, highest and lowest temperatures, precipitation, number of days with rainfall, and humidity all had a significant negative correlation with monthly number of outbreaks of norovirus food poisoning (p<0.05). Among these, the lowest and average temperature showed higher correlation coefficients. However, the sum of the outbreaks in spring and autumn was similar to that of winter, and more than one-third occurred in group meal-service settings, including school lunches. This was strongly assumed as the use of norovirus-contaminated groundwater for preparation of meals in some settings. Conclusion: The cold and dry of the winter season in Korea may assist the transmission of norovirus. Also, the use of groundwater in group meal service is suspected of inducing a larger scale of norovirus food poisoning. Both health authorities and community-based prevention and control measures are required to respond to these complex etiological outbreaks.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.77-86
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• 2022

The destructive impact of contagious diseases outbreaks on all life facets necessitates developing effective solutions to control these diseases outbreaks. This research proposes an end-to-end, data-driven platform which consists of multiple modules that are working in harmony to achieve a concrete goal: early detection of contagious diseases outbreaks (i.e., epidemic diseases detection). Achieving that goal enables decision makers and people in power to act promptly, resulting in robust prevention management of contagious diseases. It must be clear that the goal of this proposed platform is not to predict or forecast the spread of contagious diseases, rather, its goal is to promptly detect contagious diseases outbreaks as they happen. The front end of the proposed platform is a web-based dashboard that visualizes diseases outbreaks in real-time on a real map. These outbreaks are detected via another component of the platform which utilizes data mining techniques and algorithms on gathered datasets. Those gathered datasets are managed by yet another component. Specifically, a mobile application will be the main source of data to the platform. Being a vital component of the platform, the datasets are managed by a DBMS that is specifically tailored for this platform. Preliminary results are presented to showcase the performance of a prototype of the proposed platform.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.215-237
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• 1987

This study was conducted to prepare some information about food poisoning outbreaks in Korea. In this study, all reported data were reviewed, but the data during recent ten years (1977-1986) were mainly analyzed because of data shortage. We used three year moving averages in order to investigate the trend to food poisoning outbreaks, by year, foodborne pathogens, specific foods, and place food contaminated or mishandled.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 1979

This study was directed to the Peizootics of Newcastle disease in Korea. Since 1960 New-castle disease epizootics have been observed at an interval of one or two years. The frequency of Newcastle disease outbreaks was related to the amount of the vaccine used, being the more sufficient vaccine produced the fewer outbreaks. Regional distribution of Newcastle disease outbreaks was most frequent in the capital area, being the center of poultry raising and Poultry product marketing, and infrequent in areas distant from the capital. Spreading of Newcastle disease appears to be mainly due to the movement of infected chickens. More than 60 percent of the total outbreaks of Newcastle disease diagnosed at the Veterinary Research Institute in Anyang were observed in young chickens aged less than 60 days. Improper vaccination, interference by maternally derived antibody with the immune response following vaccination, ana immaturity of immune systems of young chickens might have contributed to the results. This view was further supported by the findings that 23 percent of the total flocks experienced Newcastle disease were not vaccinated at all and, in vaccinated flocks, virtually all of the flocks were vaccinated by the drinking water method, which has been known less effective compared to individual application or spraying methods.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.399-407
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• 2007

The characteristics of meteorological conditions relevant to Asian dust (AD) outbreaks and their occurrence frequencies were analyzed in four source regions (R1 to R4) during spring months (March to May) of 1995-2002. Moreover, the concentration variations of AD (e.g., $PM_{10}$) observed in Korea were investigated during the study period. In the relationship between AD outbreaks and three meteorological parameters (i.e., air temperature, wind speed, and aridity), the largest AD outbreaks in April (${\sim}250$ observations) mostly occurred in R2 when air temperature ranging from 10.0 to $15^{\circ}C$ and surface wind speed from 7 to $9m\;s^{-1}$ were recorded. Moreover, the aridity ($\geq4$) in April was significantly high in R2 with the maximum frequency of AD outbreaks (i.e., 206 observations). On the other hand, the number (percentage) of days belonging to AD events observed in five Korean cities were found to be 116 (44%), 121 (46%), and 26 days (10%) in March, April, and May, respectively. The mean $PM_{10}$ concentrations were found to range from 150 to 220, 150 to 200, and 95 to $120{\mu}g\;m^{-3}$ in March, April, and May, respectively. Consequently, this implied that the AD events in Korea were found to be gradually frequent in early spring and to be affected from the large AD outbreaks observed in the source regions.

• 한국환경농학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.220-227
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• 2009

For last about 10 years, the Republic of Korea experienced 3 times of outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) from 10 December 2003 to 30 April 2004 (a total number of 19 outbreaks), 22 November 2006 to 6 March 2007 (a total number of 7 outbreaks), and 1 April 2008 to 12 May 2008 (a total number of 33 outbreaks). Among the totally 59 outbreaks, the infected premises included 35 chicken farms, 17 duck farms, 1 quail farm, and 6 farms rearing mixed species. Control measures were applied according to the HPAI standard operation procedure including depopulation of all infected and suspected flocks, movement restrictions, and disinfection of the infected farms within a 500-meter radius. Including movement restrictions, stringent control measures were additionally applied to two designated zones: the protection zone was an area within a 3-kilometer radius of the outbreak farm, and the surveillance zone was an area between a 3- to 10-kilometer radius of the outbreak farm. Farms with dangerous contacts and/or all of poultry within the protection zone was subjected to preemptive culling. Epidemiological investigations were also carried out including trace-back and trace-forward investigations to identify possible sources of spread and dangerous contact farms. Investigation teams conducted on-site examination of farm premises and facilities, interview with farm owner and staff, and review of records. Genetic and pathogenic characteristics of the virus isolates, and the results of the various surveillance activities were also analyzed. HPAI surveillance conducted in Korea includes passive surveillance of investigating notified cases, and active surveillance of testing high risk groups and areas. HPAI is a notifiable disease in Korea and all suspect cases must be reported to the veterinary authorities. Cases reported for other poultry diseases that require differential diagnosis are also tested for HPAI. Active surveillance includes annual testing of breeder duck farms, broiler duck farms and wild bird surveillance, which is concentrated during the autumn and winter. Surveillance activities conducted prior to the outbreaks have shown no evidence of HPAI infection in Korea.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.379-386
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• 2022

Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel are at high risk for adverse mental health outcomes during disease outbreaks. To support the development of evidence-informed mitigation strategies, we conducted a scoping review to identify the extent of research pertaining to EMS personnel's mental health during disease outbreaks and summarized key factors associated with mental health outcomes. We systematically searched three databases for articles containing keywords within three concepts: EMS personnel, disease outbreaks, and mental health. We screened and retained original peer-reviewed articles that discussed, in English, EMS personnel's mental health during disease outbreaks. Where inferential statistics were reported, the associations between individual and work-related factors and mental health outcomes were synthesized. Twenty-five articles were eligible for data extraction. Our findings suggest that many of the contributing factors for adverse mental health outcomes are related to inadequacies in fulfilling EMS personnel's basic safety and informational needs. In preparation for future disease outbreaks, resources should be prioritized toward ensuring adequate provisions of personal protective equipment and infection prevention and control training. This scoping review serves as a launching pad for further research and intervention development.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.133-138
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• 2003

The data on outbreaks of puffer fish poisoning during 1991 to 2002 in Korea were gathered from press reports, and characterized information collected. During the period, a total of 32 outbreaks of puffer fish poisoning was reported. These outbreaks caused 111 persons to become poisoning, among the cases 30 persons were fatal. The mean case fatality rate was 27.0%, and most of deaths (93.3%) were the male of above 29 years old. Patient number of below 4 persons per a poisoning accident occupied 75.0% of total outbreaks; 65.8% of total cases; and 66.7% of total deaths) was occurred in the months, November through January. Most of puffer fish poisoning (75.0% of total outbreaks; 68.5% of total cases; and 73.3% of total deaths) were found along the south coastal area of Korea, including Busan, Gyeongsangnam-do, Jeollanam-do and Jeju-do. Over than 80% of puffer fish poisoning outbreaks occurred at fishing boat and home where privately made food was cause, and outbreaks in restaurants accounted for 15.6%. Most commonly implicated foods were Guk, boiled soup with puffer fish meat and spices.