• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.367-376
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of work performance of public health doctors(PHDs) involved in quarantine of COVID-19, and to suggest a plan to support PHDs for effective national epidemic prevention and control in the future. As a result of the study, it was found that PHDs mainly performed sample collection, interview, and treatment. 39% of PHDs worked in places without negative pressure facilities, and personal protective equipment and welfare support were poor. In addition, it was investigated that they experienced high-risk infectious diseases, mental distress, exclusion from the decision-making process, conflicts with officials, problems with work guidelines, and lack of prior education. For effective infectious disease management, it is necessary to assign appropriate ranks and to participate in the decision-making process for quarantine, to specify appropriate compensation and regulations, to education, and to support mental health.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2020

In this study, carp edemavirus disease and herpesviral hematopoietic necrosis were examined in carp (Cyprinus carpio) and crucian carp (Carassius auratus) imported from China. From August 2016 to May 2017, 100 carp and 300 crucian carp were examined. There were no clinical symptoms in all the tested fish, and no internal or external parasitic infections were identified except for the detection of Argulus sp. in one leather carp. Carp edema virus disease was examined by PCR in C. carpio, but all were negative. In C. auratus, herpesviral hematopoietic necrosis was tested by PCR and 4 out of 300 were positive. The results of this study are expected to be useful as basic data for conducting risk analysis on the relevant organisms and counterpart countries or for designating new pathogens for quarantine.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.213-221
• /
• 2012

A total of 18 Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolates that were recovered from 1949 through 1997 were characterized and pathotyped. All viruses were highly virulent as determined by intracerebral pathogenicity indices ${\geq}1.81$ in day-old. These pathotypes are typical for viscerotropic velogenic NDV (VVNDV) pathotype viruses. Some differences were observed for the chicken red blood cell elution rate and thermostability of the hemagglutinin at $56^{\circ}C$. Three antigenic groups were identified by a hemagglutination-inhibition assay using NDV monoclonal antibodies. And the predominant gross lesions were as follows: discharge from the nasal cavity, tracheal mucus, petechial hemorrhage in the heart fat, kidney urates and hemorrhage with or without necrosis in the gastrointestinal tract. Severe hemorrhagic or necrotic lesions were also noted in the lymphoid organs and were localized primarily in the spleen and cecal tonsil. However, differences in the occurrence and frequency of the gross lesions were observed between the virus strains. Among them, NDV strains that induced neurological symptoms belonged only to genotype VI. This strain had spread throughout Korea during the late 1980s to the 1990s, which suggests that specific VVNDVs genotypes might result in neurological symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.49-54
• /
• 2013

To investigate the transmission pattern of geographical area and temporal trends of the 2010~2011 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in Korea, and to explore temporal intervals at which spatial clustering of FMD cases space-time analysis based on georeferenced database of 3,575 burial sites, from 30 November 2010 to 23 February 2011, was performed. The cases represent approximately 98.1% of all infected farms (n = 3,644) during the same period. Descriptive maps of spatial patterns of the outbreaks were generated by ArcGIS. Spatial Scan Statistics, using SaTScan software, was applied to investigate geographical clusters of FMD cases across the country. Overall, spatial heterogeneity was identified, and the transmission pattern was different by province. Cattle have more clusters in number but smaller in size, as compared to the swine population. In addition, spatiotemporal analysis and the comparison of clustering patterns between the first 7 days and days 8 to 14 of the outbreak revealed that the strongest spatial clustering was identified at the 7-day interval, although clustering over longer intervals (8~14 days) was also observed. We further discussed the importance of time period elapsed between FMD-suspected notice and the date of confirmation, and emphasized the necessity of region-specific and species-specific control measures.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.34.1-34.10
• /
• 2020

Background: A nationwide outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in South Korea caused massive economic losses in 2010. Since then, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (QIA) has enhanced disinfection systems regarding livestock to prevent horizontal transmission of FMD and Avian influenza (AI). Although the amount of disinfectant used continues to increase, cases of FMD and AI have been occurring annually in Korea, except 2012 and 2013. Objectives: This study measured the concentration of the disinfectant to determine why it failed to remove the horizontal transmission despite increased disinfectant use. Methods: Surveys were conducted from February to May 2017, collecting 348 samples from disinfection systems. The samples were analyzed using the Standards of Animal Health Products analysis methods from QIA. Results: Twenty-three facilities used inappropriate or non-approved disinfectants. Nearly all sampled livestock farms and facilities-93.9%-did not properly adjust the disinfectant concentration. The percentage using low concentrations, or where no effective substance was detected, was 46.9%. Furthermore, 13 samples from the official disinfection station did not use effective disinfectant, and-among 72 samples from the disinfection station-88.89% were considered inappropriate concentration, according to the foot-and-mouth disease virus guidelines; considering the AIV guideline, 73.61% were inappropriate concentrations. Inappropriate concentration samples on automatic (90.00%) and semi-automatic (90.90%) disinfection systems showed no significant difference from manual methods (88.24%). Despite this study being conducted during the crisis level, most disinfectants were used inappropriately. Conclusions: This may partially explain why horizontal transmission of FMD and AI cannot be effectively prevented despite extensive disinfectant use.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.49 no.2
• /
• pp.121-125
• /
• 2009

Paratuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Mpt) is a chronic infectious enteric disease with deleterious impact on the performance in ruminants. In Korea, ELISA has been introduced to detect antibodies to Mpt in individual cattle. However, comparison study with ELISA has not been studied until now. In total, a panel of 899 serum samples obtained from dairy cattle was analyzed with two commercial ELISAs for Mpt to assess the performance. Two ELISAs employed in this study were both licensed worldwide. Two ELISAs applied onto same serum samples showed the moderate agreement (kappa value = 0.60). There was non-significant McNemar test (p = 0.0614) between two ELISA results indicating that each proportion detected by two kits did not differ. In addition, the percent agreement between two ELISA results was turned out to be 96.8% which interpreted excellent reproducibility. It was shown from this study that two ELISAs revealed moderate kappa agreement performance. The implication raised is that when ELISAs as diagnostics are used to detect Mpt in individual cattle, positive reaction by either ELISA should be interpreted as serologically Mpt positive due to presumed low sensitivity of ELISAs and their test agreement being less than 100%.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.97-100
• /
• 2014

This study was performed in Korea to get serological information for bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1), most commonly found in cattle. Antibodies against BoHV-1 were examined by targeting infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) in unvaccinated and vaccinated cattle, using viral neutralization (VN) test. In 2013, among 261 sera collected from IBR-unvaccinated herds, 7 sera (2.7%) were found seropositive and their VN titers were ranging from 1:4 to 1:32. Among 315 sera collected from IBR-vaccinated herds in large capacity farms, 303 sera (96.2%) were found to be seropositive for BoHV-1 and their VN titers were in the range of 1:4 to 1:2048. It was found that the IBR-vaccinated herds had higher levels of VN titer than IBR-unvaccinated herds. The results indicated that it may be due to heavy vaccination in vaccinated herds and no or a little infection in unvaccinated herds. At the end of the study it was concluded that although the seropositivity in IBR-unvaccinated herds was low, the monitoring of IBR should be continuously practiced to control and prevent the disease because of exportation of living cattle causing its nationwide outbreaks.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.431-432
• /
• 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been going on for nearly a year. As of December 1, 2020, more than 60 million confirmed cases and 1.4 million deaths have occurred in 220 countries and territories. There is no effective treatment for COVID-19 so far, and vaccines are being developed. However, the vaccine of COVID-19 can be freed from COVID-19 only if there are positive answers to some questions: "Aren't there any major side effects from the vaccine?"; "Is the vaccine effective for enough time?"; "Does the vaccine sufficiently reduce the mortality rate?"; and "Does the vaccine sufficiently reduce the reproduction number?" The fight against COVID-19 will continue for a long time. Therefore, we need to respond by developing the evidence for control of COVID-19, the emerging infectious disease. Extensive quarantine measures in the early stages of COVID-19 need to be elaborated through developing the evidence. Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency should establish a database for evidence developing COVID-19 control. In this database, based on more than 3 million tested individuals, epidemiological investigation results, health insurance claims data, and government data such as the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, etc. should be linked. It is necessary to disclose this database to academia, etc. to create the evidences of COVID-19 and manage COVID-19 through these. And through the developed evidences, guidelines for physical health and mental health in the era of Corona 19 should be developed.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.269-275
• /
• 2016

Black shoot blight disease caused by Erwinia pyrifoliae have damaged economic loss to apple and pear growers until now since it was firstly reported in 1995 in Korea. This study was performed to reduce economic loss by mandatory eradication of all infected trees in case of more 10% disease incidence per orchard as official control. It also aims to set up effective management protocol for this disease by examining how far bacterial pathogen is present from the border of symptomatic and asymptomatic regions in infected apple twigs. Colony-PCR using isolated bacterial cells instead of genomic DNA was used to identify bacterial pathogen, EpSPF/EpSPR primer designed in enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) region was selected as specific for E. pyrifoliae. As results of monitoring of this disease during April to October in 2014-2015 by colony-PCR, occurrence of this disease was frequent from mid-May to early-July, when daily average temperature was around $25^{\circ}C$. Moreover, bacterial cells were continuously detected only in symptomatic regions and also asymptomatic regions of less than 20 cm from symptomatic regions. Therefore, we concluded that pruning of infected twigs at the region of more than 20 cm from symptomatic regions might be effective to manage black shoot blight disease in apple trees.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.59-70
• /
• 2024

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze each country's infectious disease response capacities and, based on this, find areas for improvement in Korea's infectious disease management response. Methods: First, the capacity to respond to the COVID-19 infectious disease was analyzed by country using the SPAR scores of 96 countries around the world released by WHO in 2022. Second, we analyzed each country's specific COVID-19 quarantine performance using Our World in Data and the Global Health Security Index (GHSI). Results: First, the quarantine intensity index on January 24, 2021 was the highest in the Southeast Asia branch at 67.6, which had strong quarantine measures, and the lowest at 44.5 in the Africa branch. As of December 31, 2022, the quarantine intensity index in Europe was significantly lowered to 11.6. Second, the factor that influenced the SPAR indicator on the total number of patients per million population was national laboratory (C4), p=.027, and the factor that influenced the total number of deaths per million population was infection prevention and control (C9), p=.005., Risk Communication and Community Participation (C10) p=.040. The influential factor on GDP per capita was infection prevention and control (C9) p=.009, and the influential factor on GHSI was infection prevention and control (C9) p=.002. Conclusion: The research findings indicate that it was difficult to find a correlation between the SPAR, which is each country's self-assessment of their infectious disease capacities, and the number of COVID-19 cases or the intensity of pandemic responses. However, mortality rates, as well as factors such as the Global Health Security Index (GHSI) and national income, appear to be somewhat influenced. For future improvements in infectious disease management and response in our country, it is necessary to develop pandemic strategies that can reduce socio-economic costs based on more scientific and reliable data like JEE or GHSI, especially in preparation for potential unknown emerging infectious diseases. Based on this, proactive decision-making led by a control tower of experts and effective health communication are also required to respond to public health crises at a national level.