• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 2023

Between February 2020 and September 2021, 378 calves with diarrhea were investigated across 96 cattle breeding farms in Korea, using a rapid diagnostic kit. The study examined the infection rates of major pathogens causing diarrhea in calves, which were categorized by season, age, birth month, and region. Additionally, logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the infection rate. The study found that the five representative pathogens causing calf diarrhea exhibited differences in infection rates based on season, region, age, and birth month. Bovine rotavirus, bovine coronavirus, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia commonly exhibited varying risks of infection based on season and age. Furthermore, in addition to these risk factors, bovine rotavirus and Cryptosporidium were found to impact the infection risk of each pathogen by region, while Giardia was found to be affected by birth month.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.11-23
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• 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and declared a worldwide pandemic on March 11, 2020, is a novel infectious disease that causes respiratory illness and death. Pediatric COVID-19 accounts for a small percentage of patients and is often milder than that in adults; however, it can progress to severe disease in some cases. Even neonates can suffer from COVID-19, and children may spread the disease in the community. This review summarizes what is currently known about COVID-19 in children and adolescents.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 2020

The Korean Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the guidelines about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for children and adolescents. Case definitions and management of COVID-19 in neonates, infants, children and adolescents are presented in this guideline. In addition, guidelines for caregiver management are also provided. In this review, we introduce the contents of the current guidelines for COVID-19 in children and adolescents in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.215-221
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• 2005

Canine coronavirus (CCV) causes a mild gastroenteritis in dogs. The virus is highly contagious. Although the virus was isolated more than thirty years ago, canine coronavirus infection continues to be a widespread problem. Mixed infections with both CCV and canine parvovirus (CPV) are common. Four kinds of commercial killed CCV vaccines are available in Korea. All the commercial vaccines should pass the National Assay for Veterinary Biologicals prior to release. For the potency test of CCV vaccine, it is necessary to use CCV antibody free dogs. The test requires not only kennels but high cost. To develop easy, efficient and economic potency test method for killed CCV vaccine using laboratory animals, a series of experiments with rabbits and guinea pigs were carried out in this study. In the preliminary test, the guinea pigs showed better immune responses than rabbits. The guinea pig was also easy to manage. So guinea pig was selected for the potency test animals. When the guinea pigs were inoculated twice with one dose of vaccine intramuscuarly each, slower and a little lower SN antibody titers were induced in guinea pigs than in dogs (about 2 kg body weight Beagle strain) given the same posology as guinea pigs'. It was concluded that guinea pigs could be substituted for dogs in the potency test of killed CCV vaccine.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.180-190
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• 2022

Background: Like direct infection from COVID-19, psychological concern about infection could affect health. Concern about COVID-19 infection was associated with individual habits to practice rules for preventing infection. Therefore, this study aimed to check occupational types and whether to practice tooth brushing after lunch depending on the occupation of economic workers and find correlations between concerns about infection due to COVID-19 pandemic and tooth brushing after lunch. Methods: The raw data was from the community health survey conducted in 2020. Among 229,269 adult participants aged 19 years and older, 138,970 economic workers were included in the final analysis. The chi-squared test was used to find differences in psychological concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the participants, the rate of practicing tooth brushing after lunch was based on COVID-19-related psychological concerns. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to check the influence of psychological concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the rate of practicing tooth brushing after lunch. Results: According to occupational classifications, professionals and office workers and career soldiers had 1.551- and 1.581-times higher practicing rates than managers, respectively, whereas machine operators, agricultural and fishery sector workers, and daily laborers had lower practicing rates. Regarding COVID-19-related psychological concerns, the group with a lower concern about infection had a 1.076 times higher practicing rate than that with greater concern. The group with greater concern about blame from neighbors had 1.119 times higher practicing rate than that with lower concern. Conclusion: The correlations between higher economic workers' concerns about infection and blame from neighbors and higher recognition of the necessity to prevent COVID-19 and practice tooth brushing after lunch were confirmed. It is necessary to prepare measures for practicing tooth brushing after lunch suitable to the characteristics of occupational types and work environments of economic workers.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.95-104
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the trends and characteristics of infection-related patient safety incident reporting before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Korea, and to provide basic data for preventing infection-related patient safety incidents and improving their management. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of secondary national data (Patient Safety Reporting Data) was conducted. In total, 517 infection-related patient safety incidents reported from 2018 to 2021 were analyzed. Changes in the number of reports before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and differences in variables related to infection-related patient safety incidents were analyzed using the chi-square test and independent t-test in SPSS 29.0. Results: This study found that infection-related patient safety incidents decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic. Furthermore, incident-related characteristics, such as the type of healthcare organization, severity of harm, and post-incident actions, changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The many changes in the infection control system and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to a decrease in the reporting of infection-related patient safety incidents. It is hoped that longitudinal studies on patient safety incidents related to the pandemic and analytical studies on factors influencing patient safety incidents will continue to be conducted to prevent and improve patient safety incidents.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.134-145
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• 2024

Background: Dental hygienists are crucial in managing infection control within dental clinical settings. This study focused on examining the pre-treatment infection control practices (PT-PRF_IC) of Korean dental hygienists in the context of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and identifying factors influencing their implementation levels. Methods: An online, self-administered survey was conducted with 263 dental hygienists working in dental hospitals or clinics. The survey explored various aspects such as the experience with infection control education (Edu_IC), PT-PRF_IC, and the types of surface disinfectants used. Additionally, data from previous studies on the knowledge level of COVID-19 (KNW_CO), infection control awareness level (AWR_IC), infection control performance level (PRF_IC), and infection control organizational factor (OFW_IC) were utilized. Statistical analyses included t-tests, one-way ANOVA, chi-square tests, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression. Results: The study identified variations in PT-PRF_IC based on the number of dental hygienists within an organization. Differences in Edu_IC were observed concerning age, number of years worked, and monthly pay. The OFW_IC had the most substantial impact on PT-PRF_IC, followed by PRF_IC, and AWR_IC. Conclusion: To improve compliance with PT-PRF_IC, it is essential to consider a combination of factors including OFW_IC, PRF_IC, and AWR_IC. Strengthening organizational factors and awareness can enhance infection control practices and prevent COVID-19 transmission during dental care.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.53
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• pp.348.1-348.6
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• 2018

We report a case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in a 61-year-old businessman returning from Kuwait. The patient arrived there on August 16, 2018, developed watery diarrhea on August 28 (day 0), and came back to Korea on September 7 (day 10) as his condition worsened. Upon arrival, he complained of diarrhea and weakness, but denied any respiratory symptoms, and he directly went to visit an emergency room. Chest radiography revealed interstitial infiltrates in the lungs, and he was immediately transferred to an isolation unit. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of sputum samples taken on day 11 returned positive for MERS-CoV. No secondary MERS-CoV infection was identified among people who had close contact with him. This case underscores the importance of a high index of suspicion of MERS-CoV infection in any febrile patients who present after a trip to the Middle East.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.66-68
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• 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to be a pandemic on March 12, 2020. In Korea, there have been 24,027 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 420 deaths as of October 3, 2020. The clinical spectrum of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic infection to death. Cancer care in this pandemic has radically changed. The literature was reviewed. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it urgently necessary to profoundly re-organize cancer patients' care without compromising cancer outcomes. Several important questions in regard to COVID-19 infection in cancer patients have emerged. Are patients with cancer at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection? Are they at an increased risk of mortality and severe illness when infected with COVID-19? Does anticancer treatment affect the course of COVID-19? Based on the existing research, cancer patients with immunosuppression are vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, and cancer patients are more likely to experience severe COVID-19. However, chemotherapy and major surgery do not seem to be predictors of hospitalization or severe disease. Korean background data on patients with cancer and COVID-19 are lacking. Prospective multicenter studies on the outcomes of patients with cancer and COVID-19 should be conducted.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.36.1-36.12
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• 2022

Dexamethasone (DEX) was the first drug shown to save lives of critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients suffering from respiratory distress. A hyperactivated state of neutrophils was found in COVID-19 patients compared to non-COVID pneumonia cases. Given the beneficial effects of DEX in COVID-19 patients, we investigated the effects of DEX and of other immunomodulatory drugs vitamin D3 (VD3) and retinoic acid (RA) on neutrophil function. DEX, but not VD3 or RA, significantly inhibited all tested aspects of neutrophil function, e.g., degranulation, intracellular ROS production, CXCL8 release and NETosis. Interestingly, RA displayed the opposite effect by significantly increasing both CXCL8 and NET release by neutrophils. Taken together, these data suggest that the lower COVID-19 mortality in DEX-treated patients may in part be due to the dampening effect of DEX on the inflammatory neutrophil response, which could prevent neutrophil plugs with NETS in the lungs and other inflamed organs of patients.