• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2009

Purpose : Our aim is to reduce the rate of lumbar spinal tapping and voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) in febrile urinary tract infection (UTI) infants less than 3 months of age. Methods : We reviewed the prevalence of UTI, sepsis, meningitis and UTI with bacterial meningitis in febrile infants less than 3 months of age during the period from Jan. 2001 to Jun. 2008. Renal ultrasonography, Technetium-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) renal scan or VCUG were performed in infants with UTI. Infants with UTI were divided into two groups according to the presence of abnormal findings of ultrasonography and DMSA renal scan : group 1-Infants in whom both ultrasonography and DMSA were normal, group 2-Infants in whom ultrasonography or DMSA were abnormal. Prevalence of VUR was compared between the two groups. We followed up the clinical course of patients who had VUR in group 1. Results : Among 1962 Infants, UTI, sepsis and bacterial meningitis were diagnosed in 620 (31.6%), 63 (3.2%), 8 (0.4%) respectively. Lumbar puncture was performed in 413 (66.6%) infants with UTI and we did not detect a case of bacterial meningitis in association. 348 infants with proven UTI were undergone ultrasonography, DMSA, VCUG. In group 1 with 110 infants (31.6%), the presence of VUR was 4 (3.6%). In group 2 with 238 infants (68.4%), the presence of VUR was 51 (21.4%). Abnormal findings of ultrasonography or DMSA renal scan were closely related with high grade VUR. Most of patients with VUR in group1 had good prognosis. Conclusion : Lumbar puncture and VCUG are invasive procedures. Therefore we should decide whether to perform lumbar puncture or VCUG in infants less than 3 months. of age with their first febrile UTI.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.194-198
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• 2014

Methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) are emerging as important pathogens in humans and animals worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of MRS in the racehorse population and in horse-related personnel in Korea. A total of 195 horses and 18 humans (eight veterinarians, three veterinary hospital staff, and seven horse-handlers) from racehorse farms in Korea were included in the study. The samples were collected from nasal cavities using bacterial transport medium and were cultivated on tryptic soy agar with 5% sheep blood for 3 days at $37^{\circ}C$ to confirm the presence of Staphylococcus spp. Presumptive Staphylococcus spp. isolates were identified by 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis. The coagulase test and oxacillin susceptibility tests were performed using the tube dilution and disk diffusion methods, respectively. The presence of the mecA gene was determined using a polymerase chain reaction assay. Of the 195 horses, 29 (15.6%) yielded 29 MRS isolates. Twelve (66.7%) of the 18 horse-related personnel yielded 12 MRS isolates. All of the MRS isolates from horses or horse-related personnel were identified as methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCNS). The result of this study suggest that the prevalence of MRS increased with the duration of antibiotic use (p = 0.002). This study also provides evidence for the zoonotic transmission of MRCNS between horses and humans, although further investigations are needed.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.521-532
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• 2008

The prevalence of major calf disease was investigated in 117 Holstein dairy calves in Chonnam area. All of them were moved in the College experimental farm which is operated in intensive units. clinical signs were daily examined throughout two months after the introduction of the College farm. Among calves, 92 cases(78.6%) died in the two months after the introduction in it. Outbreaks of respiratory and alimentary diseases were their main causes of their fatality. The incidence of respiratory disorders during the full period of the experiment was up to 42.8%, and the alimentary diseases were occurred 35.9% of the herd. Most of the mortality was related with respiratory(59.9%) and alimentary(52.1%) pathogens. Also calf mortality by combined infection claimed 6.6% among 100 morbidity cases. Principle pathogens to cause mortality were Pasteurella spp(44.4%), E coli(29.9%), bovine viral diarrhea virus(16.2%), IBRV(12.0%), respectively. Viruses also played as an important role in increasing calf morbidity to secondary respiratory bacterial pathogens. Pasteurella infection combined with infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus(11 cases), parainfluenza virus type-3(9 cases), or bovine respiratory syncytial virus(7 cases) was appeared as major pattern to mortality. colibacillosis in causing enteritis was concurrently infected with BVD(19 cases), bovine coronavirus infection(14 cases), salmonellosis(5 cases), coccidiosis(5 cases) and clostridial infection(4 cases). Ninty-two cases to death were appeared to have 100% neutralizing antibodies to BCV; Among them, 73.8% had the neutralizing antibody level higher than 64. Calves with neutralizing antibodies higher than 16 to BVDV were 50%. The cases with neutralizing antibody level lower than 8 to BEFV were 89.4% that means the necessity of appropriate vaccination.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2012

Purpose: To examine the prevalence of $Clostridium$ $difficile$ ($C.$ $difficile$) colonization (CDC) and potential neonatal determinants of CDC in hospitalized preterm infants. Methods: Fecal samples were serially collected within 72 h after birth and at 1, 2, and 4-6 weeks of age from preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) of two different university hospitals. Total bacterial DNA was extracted from each fecal sample from 49 infants, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed with primers for the 16S gene of $C.$ $difficile$ and the toxin A and toxin B genes. The correlation between the results of $C.$ $difficile$ PCR assays and the clinical characteristics of the infants was analyzed. Results: The prevalence rates of CDC were 34.7, 37.2, 41.3, and 53.1% within 72 h after birth and at 1, 2, and 4.6 weeks of age, respectively. The toxin positivity rate was significantly higher in the infants with persistent CDC than in those with transient CDC (8/12 [66.7%] vs. 6/25 [24.5%] ($p$=0.001). Among the various neonatal factors, only the feeding method during the first week after birth was significantly associated with persistent CDC. Exclusive breast-milk feeding (EBMF) significantly decreased the risk of persistent CDC compared to formula or mixed feeding (adjusted odds ratio: 0.133, 95% confidence interval: 0.02-0.898, $p$=0.038). Conclusion: The prevalence of CDC increased with the duration of hospitalization in preterm infants in the NICU. EBMF during the first week after birth in hospitalized preterm infants may protect against persistent CDC.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.313-320
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate association with gross lesions and causative pathogens of porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC) including porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), swine influenza virus (SIV), Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (MH), Pasteurella multocida (PM), Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP), Haemophilus parasuis (HP) in slaughtered pigs. A total of 1,200 lung samples were collected randomly from slaughtered pigs in Korea during August of 2010 through July of 2011. The gross lesions were classified according to the six stages (0, 1~10, 11~20, 21~30, 31~40 and ${\geq}41$, unit=%) and 48 samples from each stage were selected to detect viral and bacterial pathogens. The results according to the six stages were 100 (8.3%), 259 (21.6%), 326 (27.2%), 213 (17.8%), 144 (12.0%) and 158 (13.2%) cases, respectively. Prevalence of pneumonia according to season was 87.0~96.7% and the highest prevalence was in spring. In detection of pathogens by PCR, 53 samples were not detected any causative pathogens of PRDC. PCV2, PRRSV, SIV, MH, PM, APP serotype 2, APP serotype 5 and HP were positive in 45.5%, 12.5%, 10.4%, 60.1%, 1.7%, 13.9%, 12.2% and 15.6%, respectively. In co-infection, PCV2-MH was the most detected causative pathogens of PRDC. The detection rate of PCV2 and PRRSV was the highest in spring, of SIV, MH and HP was in winter. The detection rate of APP-2 and APP-5 had no seasonal prevalence. The more severe gross lesions increased, the higher the detection rate showed.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.437-442
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• 2014

Foodborne illness due to the consumption of contaminated raw strawberries is a continuing food safety concern. This study investigated and evaluated contamination levels of bacteria on strawberries at farms stage to evaluate potential hazards associated with fresh strawberries. A total of 315 samples, 105 samples from 5 sampling sites (A to E) of 21 farms and 210 samples from 1 sampling site of 6 farms, was collected every month for four months and analyzed to enumerate aerobic bacterial counts, Coliforms/E. coli, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, the prevalence study of five pathogens (S. aureus, E. coli, E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes) was performed on each sample. Aerobic bacterial counts ranged from 0.48 to 6.36 Log CFU/g, with the highest bacterial cell counts recorded for D and E sites. Coliforms were detected in 71 samples (22.5%) with a minimum of 0.48 cfu/g and a maximum of more than 4 Log CFU/g. B. cereus was detected in 98 samples (31.1%) among total samples analyzed. S. aureus was detected in 2 samples with a minimum of 0.48 Log CFU/g and a maximum of 1.38 Log CFU/g. E. coli, E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and L. monocytogenes were not isolated from any of the samples. The microbial contamination levels of strawberries determined in this study may be used as the fundamental data for microbiological risk assessment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2006

In order to analyze the bacterial community structure including P-removal related organisms, PAOs(polyphosphate accumulating organisms) and GAOs(glycogen-accumulating non-poly-P organisms) occurred in biological phosphate removing process, 2 reactors(SBR; sequencing batch reactor) were operated on different carbon sources(sodium acetate, glucose). For the analysis of bacterial community structure, molecular methods(FISH: fluorescent in situ hybridization and DGGE; denaturing gel gradient electrophoresis) were employed. After 100 days reaction, $PO_4-P$ in effluent dropped to 3.92 mg/L in SBR #1(60.8% removal) fed by sodium acetate, and at the same time FISH results showed that ${\beta}$-subclass proteobacteria(39.67%) and PAOs(45.10%) were dominantly present whereas those value in SBR #2 fed by glucose was 8.30 mg/L(17% removal), and ${\gamma}$-subclass proteobacteria were considerably observed(23.89%) and PAOs was 21.42%. Also the result of DGGE indicated that ${\beta}$-subclass proteobacteria was dominantly observed in SBR #1. However as the temperature increased, the proportion of ${\beta}$-subclass proteobacteria and PAOs decreased, but phosphorus removing inhibitors(GAOs) increased. It suggests that the environmental factor like as temperature and types of carbon source had influence on the prevalence of phosphorus removing organism(PAOs) and phosphorus removing inhibitors(GAOs) in biological phosphate removing process.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2007

The epidemiological study was performed to survey the prevalence of bacterial disease of cultured olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus from October, 2004 to August, 2006 in Korea. A total of 1,271 of fish samples were collected at random includes fish exhibiting clinical signs of the disease in question. The total 331 samples among 738 cases of infectious diseases were infected with 366 bacteria isolates including Vibrio spp. (42.1%), Streptococcus spp. (16.9%), Edwardsiella tarda (12.3%), Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae (8.2%), Pseudomonas spp. (2.2%) or others (18.3%). Vibrio spp. and P. damselae subsp. damselae were continually isolated through all seasons but Streptococcus spp. and E. tarda were mainly isolated from May to November. The 206 cases were showed mixed infection with other bacteria (3.6%), parasites (31.4%) or virus (41.7%); Vibrio spp. (n=21), Streptococcus spp. (n=13), Trichodina (n=76), Scutica (n=31), VNNV (n=112), VHSV (n=46).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.1035-1040
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• 2016

This study investigated the prevalence of foodborne pathogens and the bacterial community of traditional Doenjang collected from a longevity area in Korea as well as the antagonistic effect of traditional Doenjang isolates against Bacillus cereus to estimate the microbiological safety of traditional Doenjang. Aerobic bacteria showed $10^6{\sim}10^9CFU/g$, whereas coliform bacteria was not detected. Foodborne pathogens were not detected except B. cereus, which was detected in seven samples out of 10 Doenjang samples. A total of 327 isolates were identified from traditional Doenjang. The isolates consisted of Bacillus subtilis 155 (47.4%), Bacillus licheniformis 68 (20.8%), Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 46 (14.1%), and Bacillus pumilus 18 (5.5%). Antagonistic effect against B. cereus was detected in 20 (6.1%) of 327 isolates, which consisted of B. subtilis (12 strains), B. amyloliquefaciens (5 strains), and B. licheniformis (3 strains). The inhibitory zone for the antagonistic effect was 9.0~12.0 mm in diameter. Although a small amount of traditional Doenjang was tested in this study, these results indicated that the potential risk of B. cereus in traditional Doenjang is lower than generally presumed. It is necessary to monitor the antagonistic effect of traditional Doenjang isolates against B. cereus.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.251-259
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• 2005

Atopy is a highly prevalent and serious health problem. The prevalence and severity of asthma and allergic diseases have increased over recent decades, particularly in industrialized nations. Early life infections may protect against the development of atopy and allergic diseases like asthma. The inverse relationship between the incidence of atopy and childhood infections has led to the 'hygiene hypothesis', which suggests that diminished exposure to childhood infections in modern society has led to decreased Th1-type responses. Th1 and Th2 responses are counter-regulatory. Reduced Th1 may lead to enhanced Th2-type inflammation, which is important in promoting asthma and allergic disease via up-regulation of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13. It is now widely accepted that altered regulation of Th2 responses(and possibly the balance between Th1 and Th2 responses) is an important factor in the development of atopy. CpG DNA represent a novel class of drugs with substantial immunomodulatory properties. CpG DNA contain unmethylated motifs centered on the CpG dinucleotides, like bacterial DNA. These CpG DNA promote Th1 and regulatory type immune responses and suppress Th2 responses. In murine studies, CpG DNA are effective in prevention and treatment of asthma and allergic diseases. CpG DNA are just beginning to be tested in human asthma. While its precise mechanisms continue to be fully studied, CpG DNA offers considerable promise as a novel treatment for atopic inflammation. It may prove to be an important disease modifying therapy, or even curative therapeutic agent for asthma and allergic diseases.