• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.583-589
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• 1999

Acellular pertussis vaccine has been used widely in Korea since 1984. However, because many of the former generations were not inoculated with pertussis vaccine, they may infect infants with pertussis. With this background, we investigated the prevalence of pertussis antibodies in all age groups. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to assess IgG antibodies to pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) and bacterial agglutination (BA) to assess antibodies to agglutinogen were compared on 842 serum samples which were donated from 11 hospitals in Seoul area. In comparison with age groups under 20 years, antibodies of adults against PT and FHA were maintained. But antibodies against agglutinogen showed no pattern in all age groups. Antibodies to PT were correlated with antibodies to FHA. There was no significant difference in antibody levels between male and female (p<0.05).

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.1055-1063
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• 2018

The aim of study was to investigate the correlation between the level of 17 antibiotic residues and 6 antibiotic resistances of Escherichia coli isolates in chicken meats. A total of 58 chicken meats were collected from retail grocery stores in five provinces in Korea. The total detection rate of antibiotic residues was 45% (26 out of 58). Ten out of 17 antibiotics were detected in chicken meats. None of the antibiotics exceeded the maximum residue level (MRLs) in chicken established by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). The most detected antibiotics were amoxicillin (15.5%), followed by enrofloxacin (12.1%) and sulfamethoxazole (10.3%). In a total of 58 chicken meats, 51 E. coli strains were isolated. E. coli isolates showed the highest resistance to ampicillin (75%), followed by tetracycline (69%), ciprofloxacin (65%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (41%), ceftiofur (22%), and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (12%). The results of study showed basic information on relationship between antibiotic residue and resistance for 6 compounds in 13 chicken samples. Further investigation on the antibiotic resistance patterns of various bacteria species is needed to improve food safety.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2011

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an aerobic, Gram-negative, glucose-nonfermenting bacterium, which has emerged as a serious opportunistic pathogen. Recently, outbreaks of carbapenem resistant P. aeruginosa give rise to significant therapeutic challenges for treating nosocomial infections. The genes of metallo-${\beta}$-lactamase (MBL), a powerful carbapenemase, are carried as a part of the mobile gene cassettes inserted into integrons playing an important role in rapid dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes among bacterial isolates. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of integron in imipenem resistant P. aeruginosa isolates. A total of 61 consecutive, non-duplicate, and imipenem resistant P. aeruginosa strains were isolated from a university hospital in the Chungcheong province of Korea. We employed repetitive extragenic palindromic sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) method for the selection of clonally different P. aerusinosa strains. PCR and DNA sequencing were conducted for the detection of integrons. Twenty-one clonally different P. aeruginosa strains were isolated. Only one (P28) of the strains harbored $bla_{VIM-2}$ that was found as gene cassettes in class 1 integrons. Four of 21 carbapenem resistant P. aeruginosa strains harbored class 1 integron containing aminoglycoside resistance determinant. All of the integrons detected in the study contained more than one resistance gene cassette, which can mediate resistance to multiple antibiotics. To prevent further spreading of the multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa, conseguent monitoring and clinical polices are required.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2007

The prevalence of the scuticociliatosis in flounder farms of Jeju island was surveyed for ten years from 1995 to 2004. The occurrence ratio had maintained as less than 10% until mid 1990s, and shown increasing trends to year 1998. The ratio was equivalent to over 40% of overall disease occurrences in flounder farms since year 2000. The monthly infection rates by the scuticociliates indicated relatively higher levels from May to September, and mixed infection phenomena with bacterial disease of vibriosis were common.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2014

Streptococci are among the normal human microflora that populate the oral cavity. However, oral streptococci are known as a major causative agent for dental caries and bacterial endocarditis. Tetracycline is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that is used for oral infections but two mechanisms of tetracycline resistance in streptococci have been reported. The tet(K) and tet(L) genes in these bacteria are related to the active efflux of tetracycline, whereas tet(M) and tet(O) confer ribosomal protection from this antibiotic. It has been reported that the tetracycline resistance of streptococci is related mainly to the activity of tet(M) and tet(O). In our present study, we examined the prevalence of tet(M) and tet(O) in oral streptococci isolated from Korean dental plaques using PCR. One hundred and forty eight of 635 isolates (23.3%) were tetracycline resistant; 68 of these strains (46%) harbored tet(M) and 3 strains (2%) were positive for tet(O). However, tet(M) and tet(O) did not co-exist in any of the resistant strains. Seventy seven of the 148 tetracycline resistant strains (52%) were negative for both the tet(M) and tet(O) genes.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2013

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inherited disorder of a defective NADPH oxidase enzyme, resulting in very low or no production of superoxide and subsequent reactive oxygen species. Consequently, patients with CGD are highly susceptible to severe bacterial and fungal infections. CGD is a genetically heterogeneous disease caused by defects in any one of the genes encoding the NADPH oxidase components. CGD generally affects about 3-4 per 1,000,000 individuals; thus, it is surprising that the prevalence of CGD on Jeju Island is 34.3 per 1,000,000 individuals. At present, 20 patients with CGD from 14 unrelated families on Jeju Island have been identified; nine males and 11 females. All patients with CGD tested on Jeju Island had an identical and homozygous mutation (c.7C>T in CYBA, p.Q3X in $p22^{phox}$). Therefore, all patients were autosomal recessive form of CGD. This strongly suggests that the unique and identical mutation in CYBA may be inherited from a common proband. Using mutation-specific primers to detect the mutated allele in CYBA, the frequency of subjects carrying a mutated allele was 1.3% of enrolled subjects from Seogwipo City. Further studies are necessary to elucidate how frequently this mutant allele occurs in the population on Jeju Island. Additionally, it is important to construct a national registry system to understand the pathophysiology of CGD and develop a strategy for long-term therapy.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.251-255
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• 2019

Wildlife is a bio-indicator of environmental pollution by antimicrobial resistant bacteria or genes, however, there is no information on antimicrobial resistance in wildlife-origin bacteria. This study aimed to investigate the normal microbiota of staphylococci and their antimicrobial resistance in wildlife that did not take any antimicrobials. After sampling and bacterial isolation/identification, antimicrobial resistance profiles were examined by broth microdilution test, Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion test and mecA genetargeted PCR. Of 90 isolates from wildlife, 83 were coagulase-negative staphylococci while only 7 were coagulase-positive staphylococci. Methicillin-resistance was found in 63 (70%) isolates and 35 of 90 (38.9%) isolates were multidrug-resistant staphylococci. When considering that all of the animals did not take any medication or contacted any medical device before the sampling, the results indicate significantly high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in wild environments. Further study would be necessary to investigate the transmission route of antimicrobial resistance.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.235-243
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• 2017

Salmonella (S.) Typhimurium is highly contagious, and its infection may rapidly spread within pig populations of herd. According to the survey (1,191 pigs) from 2003 to 2012, 155 pigs (13.0%) were diagnosed as salmonellosis in Jeju. Major porcine salmonellosis cases (88.4%) were concentrated in 4- to 12-week-old weaned pigs, but 6 pigs (3.9%) under 4 weeks old were also diagnosed. Based on the histopathologic examinations, ulcerative enteritis (63.9%) in the large intestine and/or paratyphoid nodules formation (57.4%) in the liver were most prevalent lesions in porcine salmonellosis. Single infection of S. Typhimurium and mixed infection with more than 2 pathogens were detected in 38 (24.5%) and 117 (75.5%) in pigs, respectively. Co-infections of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus and Porcine circovirus type 2 were very common in porcine salmonellosis in Jeju and detected in 84 (54.2%) and 59 (38.1%) pigs, respectively. Based on the serotyping tests using 41 bacterial isolates, S. Typhimurium and S. Rissen were confirmed in 39 (95.1%) and 2 (4.9%) cases, respectively.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.271-278
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• 2008

The epidemiological study was performed to survey the prevalence of 5 bacterial, 6 viral and 5 parasitic disease of cultured olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus in Pohang, Ulsan∙Gijang, Keoje and Wando area of Korea from February to December, 2007. The disease frequency of size groups were as follows; Among the 1,218 fish samples, less than 10 cm (67.6%), 11~20 cm (70.2%), 21~30 cm (73.4%), 31~40 cm (77.6%), above 41 cm (88.2%). The highest detection rates of pathogens were recorded in samples from August and Ulsan. The detection rates of parasites, bacteria or viruses were 43.2%, 38.8% and 24.4%, respectively. The distribution of specific diseases showed that detection rates of diseases occurring the most frequently during the study period were Trichodina (33.1%), viral nervous necrosis virus (16.0%), Vibrio (9.7%), Scutica (10.1%), Ichthyobodo (5.7%).

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.321-330
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• 2019

Carbapenem is recently considered as the last resort of the therapeutics for gram negative bacterial infection. Increasing of organisms producing metallo-β-lactamase (MBL), we have difficulty in choosing the antimicrobial agents. Among 345 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas spp., 61 isolates (17.7%) were positive for the modified imipenem or meropenem-Hodge test and 55 isolates (15.9%) were positive for the imipenem-EDTA + SMA double disk synergy test (DDS). PCR and sequencing of bla_VIM-2-allele and bla_IMP-1-allele showed that 17 isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 9 isolates of Pseudomonas taiwnensis and 2 Pseudomonas plecoglossicida had bla_VIM-2, and 22 isolates of P. aeruginosa and one Pseudomonas otitidis had bla_IMP-6. These MBL genes were all in class 1 integron. The size of class 1 integron with bla_VIM-2 ranged from 3.5 kb to 5.5 kb in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas spp. including P. aeruginosa. bla_VIM-2 was most often located first in the class 1 integron, sometimes in the second or third position, and these integrons often had aacA4 or aadA1. Strict infection control measures are needed to more effectively prevent further spread of these MBL-producing Pseudomonas spp. In addition, MBL-producing Pseudomonas spp. is expected to continue to spread in various countries and regions.