• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.273-287
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• 2015

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the epidemic disease including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS) on the usage of public libraries. Such disease yields anxiety throughout the nation and discourages social activities in general. 18,711,453 records from 303 public libraries were examined with "big data retrieval & analysis platform for public libraries" located in Sejong National Library. The results are as follows. First, in 2015, when MERS was prevalent, the daily mean of books checked out was 64,645.05, showing decrease of 6,300 per day compared to that of 2014. Second, in 2014, the daily mean of books checked out from July 5th to August 19th was greater than that of from April 4th to May 19th and that of from May 20th to July 4th, implying the impact of summer vacation on the increase in books checked out in public libraries. Third, in 2015, the daily mean of books checked out from July 5th was greater than during MERS outbreak(from May 20th to July 4th), while it did not show statistically significant difference with that of before the outbreak. Fourth, the daily mean of books checked out did not show statistically significant difference between 2014 and 2015 before and during the outbreak, while it showed statistically significant difference between 2014 and 2015 after the epidemic period. The results indicate that MERS and the anxiety it brought nationwide had an impact on the daily mean of books checked out in public libraries after the epidemic period rather than during the outbreak.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.473-480
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• 2007

The legal communicable diseases are classified two group, 62 diseases in the existing domestic animal Infectious disease prevention Act. There is problem that standards of administrative measure are unjustly suspected when infectious disease outbreaks between two groups, Therefore, A reclassification of many diseases should be diversified, the standards of administrative measure at the infectious diseases outbreak should be desired. Also, It suggest that central government should mandate local government to be able to assign legally designated disease about specific endemic diseases.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2024

In 2023, symptoms like damping-off disease were observed in 74 paprika growing in greenhouses in Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do, Korea. In this study, we tried to find the cause of the damping-off disease outbreak. We collected symptomatic seedlings and observed the typical crescent-shaped conidia of Fusarium oxysporum by microscope. To confirm the presence of F. oxysporum in the samples, polymerase chain reaction was performed using primers specific for F. oxysporum; the resulting sequence showed 99.11% identity with F. oxysporum. To confirm the pathogenicity of the F. oxysporum (CW) isolated from the samples, healthy paprika plants were inoculated with F. oxysporum CW and damping-off symptoms were observed 2 weeks later. To investigate whether the damping-off disease outbreak in Cheorwon-gun was caused by F. oxysporum-contaminated seeds, 100 paprika seeds were disinfected and placed in Murashige and Skoog medium. Typical pink F. oxysporum hyphae were found only in control non-disinfected seeds. An 18S rRNA-based and a TEF genebased phylogenetic analysis showed that the F. oxysporum CW isolate was not grouped with a F. oxysporum isolate reported from Cheorwon-gun in 2019. This study is the first report that an outbreak of damping-off disease in paprika in Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do, Korea, was caused by contamination of F. oxysporum seeds.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.387-396
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• 2020

Objectives: The lack of advance planning in a public health emergency can lead to wasted resources and inadvertent loss of lives. This study is aimed at forecasting the needs for healthcare resources following the expansion of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the Republic of Kazakhstan, focusing on hospital beds, equipment, and the professional workforce in light of the developing epidemiological situation and the data on resources currently available. Methods: We constructed a forecast model of the epidemiological scenario via the classic susceptible-exposed-infected-removed (SEIR) approach. The World Health Organization's COVID-19 Essential Supplies Forecasting Tool was used to evaluate the healthcare resources needed for the next 12 weeks. Results: Over the forecast period, there will be 104 713.7 hospital admissions due to severe disease and 34 904.5 hospital admissions due to critical disease. This will require 47 247.7 beds for severe disease and 1929.9 beds for critical disease at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak. There will also be high needs for all categories of healthcare workers and for both diagnostic and treatment equipment. Thus, Republic of Kazakhstan faces the need for a rapid increase in available healthcare resources and/or for finding ways to redistribute resources effectively. Conclusions: Republic of Kazakhstan will be able to reduce the rates of infections and deaths among its population by developing and following a consistent strategy targeting COVID-19 in a number of inter-related directions.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.295-304
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• 2002

Objectives : This study was carried out to investigate the cause, magnitude and transmission route of the cholera outbreak in 2001 Methods : The study population were those persons who ingested foods at the restaurant, were confirmed as cholera patients, had symptoms of diarrhea and sewed as workers at the restaurant. A questionnaire survey and microbiological examinations on the microbes isolated from rectal swabs were conducted. Of the cases, 316 food histories were surveyed by an analysis of the restaurant menu. Results : There were 139 confirmed cases of cholera reported in Korea in 2001. Of these, 104 were related to the restaurant. By region, Gyeongsangbuk-do had the highest incidence with 91 cases. Of these 91 cases, 74 had ingested foods at the restaurant, 2 were employees and 3 were secondary infection cases within the families. The results of the odds ratio analysis of the 316 persons having ingested foods at the restaurant were as follows: sandwiches 5.07 (95% CI, 1.85-14.59), soybean curd 2.45 (95% CI, 1.09-5.56), noodles 2.34 (95% CI, 1.24-4.42), steamed squid 2.01 (95% CI, 1.17-3.47) and vinegared rice 1.82 (95%, CI, 1.08-3.09). It was certain the restaurant in question was the cause of the 2001 outbreak. Conclusions : We suspected that more than one restaurant employee contaminated foods served at the restaurant. In addition, eating raw fishes purchased at the Pohang Fisheries infected the employees of the restaurant. There is a possibility that these raw fishes were themselves contaminated by cholera bacilli in the sea.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.31-49
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to statistically analyze the demographic characteristics of patient who visited the department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, korean medicine hospital(KMH) in Daejeon before and after COVID-19. Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 63,185 patients who received treatment at KMH in Daejeon for 3 years from January 1, 2018 to August 31, 2020. Data were classified by year, month, new/old type, gender, age and Disease group. IBM-SPSS-Statistics ver25.0. was used for the data analysis. Results: 1. According to the analysis by gender, the rate of new patients after COVID-19 outbreak was similar to that of the previous years. The old patients showed an increase in the rate of visits by men and a decrease in the rate of visits by women. 2. According to the analysis by age group, the rate of new patients was similar to that of the previous year. the rate of patients in their 20s and 50s decreased, and the rate of patients over 60 increased. 3. According to the analysis by frequent disease, after the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of patients decreased in 14 disease groups excluding cervical sprains among the 15 frequent disease groups. 4. For inpatients, even after COVID-19 outbreak, the results of all variables were similar to the previous years. Conclusions: After COVID-19, on outpatients, the percentage of female visits, the percentage of patients in their 20s to 50s and Number of patients with frequent disease decreased significantly. On Inpatients, the results of all variables were similar to those before COVID-19.

• Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2017

Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate psychological effects of an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), a newly emerged infectious disease, on doctors. Methods After the MERS outbreak was over, we conducted an online survey of doctors who worked at the hospitals in which exposure to MERS cases had been confirmed or who were directly involved in MERS diagnosis and treatment. The Patient Health Questionnaires-9 (PHQ-9) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) assessment methods were used to assess the severity of depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms among the 64 doctors participating in the survey. Results The results of the survey indicate that 26.6% (n=17) of participants exhibited depressive symptoms and 7.8% (n=5) had post-traumatic stress symptoms. The doctors employed at hospitals with MERS cases had higher PHQ-9 and IES-R mean scores than those in doctors were not so employed. In contrast, there was no significant difference in those test scores between doctors who participated directly in MERS diagnosis and treatment and those doctors who did not. Conclusion The survey demonstrated that 28.1% (n=18) of doctors involved in MERS care suffered from depressive or posttraumatic stress symptoms, even though the MERS infection was being controlled. Working at a hospital with MERS cases was the primary determinant of the adverse psychological outcomes among doctors ; however, direct participation in the diagnosis and care of MERS patients was not significantly related to such outcomes.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.252-266
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• 2020

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious pneumonia that has spread throughout the world. It is caused by a novel, single stranded RNA virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Genetic analysis revealed that, phylogenetically, the SARS-CoV-2 is related to severe acute respiratory syndrome-like viruses seen in bats. Because of this, bats are considered as a possible primary reservoir. The World Health Organization has declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. As of May 27, 2020, more than 5,406,282 confirmed cases, and 343,562 confirmed deaths have been reported worldwide. Currently, there are no approved vaccines or antiviral drugs available against COVID-19. Newly developed vaccines are in the first stage of clinical trials, and it may take a few months to a few years for their commercialization. At present, remdesivir and chloroquine are the promising drugs for treating COVID-19 patients. In this review, we summarize the diversity, genetic variations, primary reservoirs, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment strategies, and future prospects with respect to controlling the spread of COVID-19.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.109-118
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• 2004

Avian influenza(AI) is an epizootic disease of variable severity caused by type A influenza viruses of the orthomyxovirus group. Chickens were the most frequently affected avian species with AI viruses. There were many outbreaks of fowl plague, now known as highly pathogenic AI(HP AI), throughout the world since Perroncito described the fowl plague in 1978 in Italy. In recent years HPAI viruses of different serotypes such as H5, H7 and H9 has been isolated from humans on several occasions either related with outbreak of HPAI in birds or not. In 1997, one of the most noteworthy events in AI history was the human mortality with H5N1 HPAI virus infection in Hong Kong. Six persons of total 18 persons with clinical signs of influenza were died. Recently the human cases with mortality related with HP AI outbreaks in poultry industry has been increased such as outbreaks of HP AI throughout Asia countries including Korea, Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand and others in 2003. Although these outbreaks revealed the capable of spreading from birds to human, the capability for transmission between people was not clear. Therefore, this report will review the possibility of HP AI infection in human associated with HPAI outbreak in poultry industry.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.93-106
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• 2023

Emerging and re-emerging zoonotic viruses become critical public health, economic, societal, and cultural burdens. The Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic reveals needs for effective preparedness and responsiveness against the emergence of variants and the next virus outbreak. The targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) significantly contributes to the acquisition of viral genome sequences directly from clinical specimens. Using this advanced NGS technology, the genomic epidemiology and surveillance play a critical role in identifying of infectious source and origin, tracking of transmission chains and virus evolution, and characterizing the virulence and developing of vaccines during the outbreak. In this review, we highlight the platforms and preparation of targeted NGS for the viral genomics. We also demonstrate the application of this strategy to take advantage of the responsiveness and prevention of emerging zoonotic viruses. This article provides broad and deep insights into the preparedness and responsiveness for the next zoonotic virus outbreak.