• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
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• v.27 no.3_4
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• pp.779-793
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• 2009

This paper deals with a delayed SEIRS epidemic model with pulse vaccination and crowded incidence rate. Moreover, the case of vertical and horizontal transmission is considered. By using the discrete dynamical system determined by the stroboscopic map, the exact infection-free periodic solution of the SEIRS model is obtained. Further, by employing the comparison arguments, we prove that under the condition that $R_*$ < 1 the infection-free periodic solution is globally attractive, and that under the condition that $R^*$ > 1 the disease is uniformly persistent, which means that after some period of time the disease will become endemic.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2014

Purpose: Administration of antiretroviral drugs to mothers and infants significantly decreases mother-to-child human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission; cesarean sections and discouraging breastfeeding further decreases this risk. The present study confirmed the HIV status of babies born to mothers infected with HIV and describes the characteristics of babies and mothers who received preventive treatment. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed medical records of nine infants and their mothers positive for HIV who gave birth at Korea University Ansan Hospital, between June 1, 2003, and May 31, 2013. Maternal parameters, including HIV diagnosis date, CD4+ count, and HIV ribonucleic acid (RNA) copy number, were analyzed. Infant growth and development, HIV RNA copy number, and HIV antigen/antibody test results were analyzed. Results: Eight HIV-positive mothers delivered nine babies; all the infants received antiretroviral therapy. Three (37.5%) and five mothers (62.5%) were administered single- and multidrug therapy, respectively. Intravenous zidovudine was administered to four infants (50%) at birth. Breastfeeding was discouraged for all the infants. All the infants were negative for HIV, although two were lost to follow-up. Third trimester maternal viral copy numbers were less than 1,000 copies/mL with a median CD4+ count of $325{\mu}L$ ($92-729{\mu}L$). Among the nine infants, two were preterm (22.2%) and three had low birth weights (33.3%). Conclusion: This study concludes that prophylactic antiretroviral therapy, scheduled cesarean section, and prohibition of breastfeeding considerably decrease mother-to-child HIV transmission. Because the number of infants infected via mother-to-child transmission may be increasing, studies in additional regions using more variables are necessary.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.196-200
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• 2006

Congenital toxoplasmosis is caused by vertical transmission of Toxoplasma gondii from mother during pregnancy. The broad clinical spectrum of congenital toxoplasmosis ranges from stillbirth or death shortly after birth to survival with either cerebral damage or mild or subclinical disease, consisting usually of ocular involvement. The authors experienced a case of congenital toxoplasmosis in prematurity baby whose mother had lived recently in Africa. The diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis was confirmed on the basis of clinical finding of chorioretinitis and positive serologic test for toxoplasma IgM antibody.

• 한국환경농학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.273-282
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• 2009

The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) disease group are fatal neurodegenerative disorders affecting a wide range of hosts. The group includes kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, scrapie in sheep and goats and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle. The exact nature of the infectious agent involved in the transmission of these diseases remains controversial. However, a central event in their pathogenesis is the accumulation in infected tissues of an abnormal form of a host-encoded protein, the prion protein (PrP). Whereas the normal cellular protein is fully sensitive to protease ($PrP^{sen}$), the disease-associated prion protein ($PrP^d$) is only partly degraded ($PrP^{res}$), its amino-terminal end being removed. BSE was first reported in the mid-80s in the UK. Ten years later, a new form of human prion disease, variant CJD (vCJD) developed in the wake of the BSE epidemic, and there is now strong scientific evidence that vCJD was initiated by the exposure of humans to BSE-infected tissues, thus indicating a zoonotic disease. However, the ban on the feeding of animal-derived proteins to ruminants, and the apparent lack of vertical transmission of BSE, have led to a decline in the incidence of the disease within cattle herd and therefore, an assumed decreased risk for human contacting vCJD. The origin of the original case(s) of BSE still remains an enigma even though three hypotheses have been raised. Hypotheses are i) sheep- or goat-derived scrapie-infected tissues included in meat and bone meal fed to cattle, ii) a previously undetected sporadic or genetic bovine TSE contaminating cattle feed or iii) originating from a human TSE through animal feed contaminated with human remains. A host cellular membrane protein ($PrP^C$), which is abundant in central nervous system tissue, appear to be conformationally altered in the diseased host into a prion protein ($PrP^{Sc}$). This $PrP^{Sc}$ is detergent insoluble and partially protease-resistant ($PrP^{res}$). The term $PrP^{res}$ is normally used to describe the protein detected after protease treatment, in techniques such as Western immunoblotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay using fresh/frozen tissue. Immunohistochemistry may performed with formalin-fixed tissues. Also, clinical signs of the BSE are one of the major diagnostic indicators. Recently, atypical forms (known as H- and L-type) of BSE have appeared in several European countries, Japan, Canada and the United States. An unusual case was also reported in a miniature zebu. The atypical BSE fall into two groups based on the relative molecular mass (Mm) of the unglycosylated $PrP^{res}$ band relative to that of classical BSE, one of the higher Mm (H-type) and the other lower (L-type). Both types have been detected worldwide as rare cases in older animals, at a low prevalence consistent with the possibility of sporadic forms of prion diseases in cattle. This raises the unwelcome possibility that vCJD could increase in the human population. Now, active surveillance program against BSE is going on in Korea. In regional veterinary service lab, ELISA is applied to screen the BSE in slaughter and confirmatory tests by Western immunoblotting and immunohistochemisty are carried out if there are positive or suspect in the screening test. Also, the ruminant feed ban is rigorously enforced. Removal of specified risk materials such as brain and spinal cord from cattle is mandatory process at slaughter to prevent the infected material from entering the human food chain.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.237-245
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• 2010

A survey of transovarially transmitted diseases, including salmonellosis [(pullorum disease; PD)/(fowl typhoid; FT)], mycoplasmosis, avian infectious anemia (CIA), and fowl adenovirus infection was conducted in the breeder chickens from August to December in 2009. The numbers of flocks sampled out were: Grand Parents Stock (GPS), 45; Parents Stock (PS) 1,018, Baeksemi breeder (BSB) 54. The seroprevalence of salmonellosis (PD/FT) were 0% (GPS), 3.2% (PS), and 3% (BSB), respectively. A total of 983 chicken farms were affected with FT outbreaks between 2000 and 2008. The incidence of FT in commercial broilers, Baeksemi, commercial layers, native chickens, and broiler breeders was 44.3%, 26.2%, 15.7%, 12.6% and 1.08%, respectively. Of the affected broilers, over 90% birds were under 2 weeks of age, indicating it was possible that they were infected with S. gallinarum via vertical transmission. The sero-positive flocks against Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) were 71.1% (GPS), 88.7% (PS), 88.7% (BSB), while the rates of positive flocks against Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) were 86.0% (GPS), 77.0% (PS), and 98.0% (BSB). In GP and parent farms, the detection rates on specific genes of CIA virus were 19/45 (42.2%), and 169/1039 (18.0%), respectively, whereas the seroprevalence of CIA were 86.0% in GPS and 93.7% in PS flocks. In addition, positive flocks of fowl adenoviruses were 4.4% (GPS), 2.7% (PS) and 9.35% (BSB), respectively. As the results, avian mycoplasmosis and CIA have been more prevailing in chicken breeder than avian salmonellosis and fowl adenovirus infection in Korea.