• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.89-110
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• 2012

Meningococcal Disease, manifesting as meningitis and septicemia, is a life-threatening bacterial infection that results in significant morbidity and mortality, particularly in childhood. Its epidemic potential and limited opportunities for clinical intervention due to its rapid course present unique public health and clinical challenges. Incidence is highest in infants and young children, with a secondary peak of risk in adolescents. Approximately 10% of cases are fatal and survivors can be left with serious and permanent sequelae including amputations, hearing loss and cognitive impairment. Transmission is only from human-to-human, by infected respiratory tract secretions or saliva and therefore crowding poses a tremendously elevated risk for disease development. Military recruits and university students are at high risk due to the high carriage rate in adolescents, their behavior patterns and close contact. Menveo$^{(R)}$ (Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics), a novel quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine directed against meningococcal serogroups A, C, W-135 and Y, has been shown to be immunogenic and well tolerated in all age groups and was recently licensed for use in Korea. Recent cases and deaths among military recruits drew public attention to their elevated risk and the Korean government has recommended vaccination of all new military recruits. Many Korean students seek to attend school, university, or language institutes in countries where routine meningococcal vaccination is required - clinicians should be aware of such requirements to ensure that students are vaccinated prior to arrival in the destination country.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.222-226
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• 2011

Salmonellosis is a major bacterial zoonosis that causes self-limited enteritis to fatal infection in animals and food-borne infection and typhoid fever in humans. Multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella spp. has increased over the last several decades and recently causes more serious problems in public health. The present study was investigated bacteriocidal effects of sodium chlorate, sodium azide, sodium cyanide, and sodium salts mixture containing sodium chlorate, sodium azide, and sodium cyanide on infection with S. typhimurium in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells, and antibacterial effects of sodium salts mixture for murine salmonellosis. In infection assay of S. typhimurium in RAW 264.7 cells, bacterial survival rates within macrophage in all treated groups was significantly reduced comparing to that of the control group with the passage of incubation time. Administration of sodium salts mixture showed a therapeutic effect for S. typhimurium infected ICR mice. The mortality of mice treated with sodium salts mixture was 70% until 12 days, while that of control mice was 100% until 9 days after S. typhimurium infection. The results of this study strongly indicate that sodium salts mixture has a potency treatment for murine salmonellosis.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2016

The purpose of the review article is to investigate the influence of periodontal diseases on preterm birth(PTB) and low birth weight(LBW). PTB and LBW are the main risk factors of infant mortality and a major public health problem. PTB is defined as delivery at less than 37 weeks and LBW is less than 2,500 grams. Over Approximately 60 percent of perinatal mortality results from PTB or LBW. Although the causes of PTB and LBW are not fully understood, infection is the leading cause of PTB and LBW. Periodontal diseases are serious disease burdens because they are caused by bacterial endotoxin, inflammatory reaction, and cytokine. The periodontal diseases are the predisposing factors of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis. Over the past 15 years, previous studies revealed that periodontitis had adverse outcomes including PTB and LBW in pregnancy.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.467-477
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• 2021

Staphylococcus aureus is a well-known pathogen that can cause diseases in humans. It can cause both mild superficial skin infections and serious deep tissue infections, including pneumonia, osteomyelitis, and infective endocarditis. To establish host infection, S. aureus manages a complex regulatory network to control virulence factor production in both temporal and host locations. Among these virulence factors, staphyloxanthin, a carotenoid pigment, has been shown to play a leading role in S. aureus pathogenesis. In addition, staphyloxanthin provides integrity to the bacterial cell membrane and limits host oxidative defense mechanisms. The overwhelming rise of Staphylococcus resistance to routinely used antibiotics has necessitated the development of novel anti-virulence agents to overcome this resistance. This review presents an overview of the chief virulence determinants in S. aureus. More attention will be paid to staphyloxanthin, which could be a possible target for anti-virulence agents.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.139-144
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• 2016

Purpose: Acute pyelonephritis (APN) is a serious bacterial infection that can cause renal scarring in children. Early identification of APN is critical to improve treatment outcomes. The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a prognostic marker of many diseases, but it has not yet been established in urinary tract infection (UTI). The aim of this study was to determine whether NLR is a useful marker to predict APN or vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 298 pediatric patients ($age{\leq}36months$) with febrile UTI from January 2010 to December 2014. Conventional infection markers (white blood cell [WBC] count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR], C-reactive protein [CRP]), and NLR were measured. Results: WBC, CRP, ESR, and NLR were higher in APN than in lower UTI (P<0.001). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that NLR was a predictive factor for positive dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) defects (P<0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was high for NLR (P<0.001) as well as CRP (P<0.001) for prediction of DMSA defects. NLR showed the highest area under the ROC curve for diagnosis of VUR (P<0.001). Conclusion: NLR can be used as a diagnostic marker of APN with DMSA defect, showing better results than those of conventional markers for VUR prediction.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.628-636
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• 2020

Streptococcosis in the olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus can be caused by Streptococcus parauberis. We compared three routes of administration for experimental injections of the S. parauberis 19FBSPa0003 strain in the olive flounder. Pathological changes were observed during the experimental infection. Inflammation of the serous membrane in the liver, intestine, spleen and heart was the major pathological change found in the infected olive flounder. No mortality was observed in fish that received intraperitoneal (IP) injection at less than 1×10⁴ colony-forming unit (CFU)/fish. The lethal dose 50 for olive flounder, given an intravenous (IV) injection, was 7.94×10⁴ CFU/fish. Fish with a higher concentration of IV injected S. parauberis (1×10⁸ CFU/fish) died within a maximum of two days. However, serious necrosis and bacterial proliferation in ellipsoidal cells of the spleen and heart tissues were found in moribund or dead fish, 1-2 days after IV injection. Similar histopathological signs were observed in olive flounder inoculated by subcutaneous (SC) infected and naturally infected. In addition, SC was also strongly associated with bacteria concentration and cumulative mortality rate. Based on these results, SC is the recommended method for artificial infection by S. parauberis in the olive flounder.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2013

Purpose: To identify an associations between health care workers' uniforms and health care-associated infection. Methods: Electronic databases, including Ovid-Medline, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, EMBASE, KMbase, and KoreaMed, were searched. The search terms included doctor, nurse, health care worker/staff/assistant, clothing, (white) gown, uniform, (neck)tie, and attire. Only papers published in English and Korean were included. Results: 16 studies were selected from 1,900 references screened. All of the studies were non-comparative studies except for one. Four were conducted with doctors, six with nurses, one with health care workers including physiotherapists and one for medical staff plus visitors in a neonatal intensive care unit. Doctors more frequently changed their uniforms than neckties; therefore, the degree of contamination was more serious in neckties. The cuff zone was more likely to be heavily contaminated than other areas of long-sleeve gowns. Coats become contaminated quickly once worn, and colony counts reached a similar level within the first few hours after wearing them. Wearing a plastic apron or protective clothing did not prevent the bacterial contamination of nurses' uniforms, and the best way to decrease the contamination was changing to newly laundered uniforms before starting every duty. Conclusion: Healthcare workers' uniforms are a potential source of health care-associated infection although there was no robust evidence. The government must establish standards for laundering of uniforms or a requirement for institutions to provide a laundering service for healthcare workers' uniforms.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.240-248
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• 1989

The increase in size and numbers of general hospitals in the process of conspicuous development of modem medicine has been accompanied by a serious increase in hospital acquired infections. Hospital aquired infections cause pain and discomfort, may threaten life, adds an economic burden, and delays recovery and return to society. Even though respiratory hospital infection rates resulting for tracheostomy and respiratory inhalation therapy, may be low, they are serious because of their bad prognosis and high mortality rates. This study was designed to assess certain aspects of respiratory infections of patients with a tracheostomy and thus provide baseline data for further research related to preventive or therapeutic nursing interventions. The specific objectives were to determine the incidence of colonization in the trachea, clinical signs, type of colonized bacteria and sensitivity to antibiotics. Data were collected from July 1 to December 10, 1989 at two university Hospital in Seoul. Subjects were 20 patients with a tracheostomy admitted to the Intensive Care Unit or Cerebral Vascular Accident Center. Clinical signs related to respiratory infection were observed using a checklist based on previous study outcomes. Bacterial culture, sensitivity test to antibiotics, WBC counts and chest X-ray were also performed. Cultures were done on the day of tracheostomy, and on the third, fifth and seventh day. Cultures were then done on seventh days after the first colonization. The results were as follows : 1. The incidence of bacteria colonization in a week was 90%(18 patients) 50% (10/20 patients) on the day of tracheostomy, 70%(7/10 patients) on the third day, and 0% on the fifth day, and 33%(1/3 patient) on the seventh day. 3 of 18 patients (16.7%) were colonies of mixed growth isolated. 2. The observed clinical signs related to respiratory infection were high fever 38.9%(7 patients), prulent secretion 16.7%(12 patients) and infiltration seen on chest X-ray 33.3%(6 patients). 3. The total number of types of bacteria isolated among the 18 subjects was 21 ; gram negative 71.4%, gram postive 28.6%. The dominant bacteria type was Staphylococcus aureus(5 cases) for gram(equation omitted) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa(3 cases), Klebsiella (4 cases), Enterobacter(3 cases) for gram (equation omitted). The results of culture on 7th day after the first colonization, 6 cases showed same type of bacteria, 3cases showed different type of bacteria and 1 cases showed no growth. 4. The sensitivity tests to antibiotics showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus were strongly resistant to most kinds of antibiotics, but Klebsiella and the rest of gram negative bacteria were moderately sensitive to antibiotics.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.162-168
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• 2017

Mastitis is a common and serious infection of the mammary gland in dairy cattle and has a major economic impact on the production of milk and dairy products. Bacterial mastitis is caused by several pathogens and is most frequently associated with coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). Although CNS are typically associated with subclinical or mild mastitis, the importance of CNS has increased as these pathogens have emerged as predominant mastitis-related pathogens in many countries. CNS can cause persistent infections, resulting in increased milk somatic cell counts and thereby affecting milk quality and decreasing milk production. Globally, Staphylococcus chromogenes, S. epidermidis, and S. simulans are the predominant CNS species in dairy cattle mastitis. Antibacterial resistance of CNS varies with species, and most CNS are susceptible to vancomycin and resistant to penicillin and tetracycline. As the most frequently isolated CNS species, some strains of S. chromogenes exhibit phenotypic resistance to ampicillin, erythromycin, oxacillin, penicillin, and tetracycline. Some strains of S. epidermidis and S. haemolyticus are only susceptible to vancomycin and rifampicin. Therefore, more studies are needed to achieve the control and prevention of CNS as environmental pathogens.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2020

Purpose: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common and serious bacterial infections in children. Therefore, early diagnosis of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) for treatment planning and the identification of noninvasive markers that can predict renal injury are important in patients with UTIs. We analyzed the clinical features of pediatric UTIs commonly encountered by general practitioners and reinterpreted the blood tests and imaging findings to identify the important clinical predictive markers of VUR in order to selectively perform VCUG. Methods: This retrospective study was performed among 183 children diagnosed with a UTI or acute pyelonephritis. Results: The most significant predictor of high grade and bilateral VUR identified using area under the curve analyses was hydronephrosis on kidney ultrasound images with renal cortical defects on dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) kidney scan simultaneously, followed by hydronephrosis only on kidney ultrasound. Conclusion: The presence of hydronephrosis on kidney ultrasound images or cortical defects or asymmetric kidneys on the DMSA kidney scans can be predictive markers of VUR, reducing the need for VCUG. Our study can thus help minimize the exposure to radiation among patients through selective VCUG.