• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2011

Between January 2010 and March 2011, there were three outbreaks of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in South Korea. Over 3.45 million animals (5,660 farms) were slaughtered, which was 33.3% of the existing pigs, 8.4% of dairy cows and 3.4% of cattle. FMD disaster costs were estimated at around three billion Korean won. Nine civil servants were killed, over 150 people were wounded and 4,788 landfills were confronted with a pollution problem. Vaccination and slaughter are the two basic alternatives for eradication of FMD. Altho ugh slaughter is more violent, risky and expensive than vaccination, the Korean government had chosen only slaughter eradication by the end of 2010. Even though over three million animals were killed, FMD spread out over most of the country. Finally, the government chose to begin vaccination. Following vaccination, outbreaks decreased dramatically. The purpose of this report is a cultural analysis of the related decision-making process, laws and systems. For the culture analysis, we utilize interviews, symposiums, laws, FMD manual, government reports and press releases. In conclusion, we found that the FMD massacre was influenced by cultural and organizational factors. The cultural factors were economism, cheapening of the value of life, biased perceptions and fears. The organizational factors were a closed process of decision-making, monopoly system, a small homogeneous group and group-think. Therefore, more studies will be needed for those factors of FMD disasters in national-scale cases.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.285-288
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• 2019

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) causes economic problems in livestock industry because of fast spread and inducing low productivity. FMD outbreaks occurred in South Korea over the period from 2000 to 2019. Vaccination is the most practical and effective means of controlling or preventing these outbreaks, and a national vaccination policy has been in place for all FMD-susceptible animals since 2010. To prevent and control of FMD, South Korea has been using vaccines imported from the United Kingdom, Argentina, and Russia. The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency of South Korea oversees continuous quality control of imported FMD vaccines. FMD vaccines were evaluated characteristics, sterility, pH, inactivation, safety, potency test by Korean FMD vaccine standard assay (Test for National Lot Release). The 6 company vaccines (A~F) were used Test for National Lot Release by each method. We evaluated quality of each FMD vaccine from 2015 to 2019. All batch of vaccine showed good quality control and were passed the Test for National Lot Release. The serotypes of vaccine are increasingly changing to multiple vaccine because the FMD was outbreak by various serotype virus in South Korea. Furthermore, this data may be useful as a basis for ensuring the quality of FMD vaccines and for base data to manage them. Additional study is required to simple approach for rapid evaluation of quality and antigen content identification in vaccines.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2013

To investigate the transmission pattern of geographical area and temporal trends of the 2010~2011 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in Korea, and to explore temporal intervals at which spatial clustering of FMD cases space-time analysis based on georeferenced database of 3,575 burial sites, from 30 November 2010 to 23 February 2011, was performed. The cases represent approximately 98.1% of all infected farms (n = 3,644) during the same period. Descriptive maps of spatial patterns of the outbreaks were generated by ArcGIS. Spatial Scan Statistics, using SaTScan software, was applied to investigate geographical clusters of FMD cases across the country. Overall, spatial heterogeneity was identified, and the transmission pattern was different by province. Cattle have more clusters in number but smaller in size, as compared to the swine population. In addition, spatiotemporal analysis and the comparison of clustering patterns between the first 7 days and days 8 to 14 of the outbreak revealed that the strongest spatial clustering was identified at the 7-day interval, although clustering over longer intervals (8~14 days) was also observed. We further discussed the importance of time period elapsed between FMD-suspected notice and the date of confirmation, and emphasized the necessity of region-specific and species-specific control measures.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.197-204
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• 1993

Flounder culture has been developed mainly in the western parts of japan, and, to date, following six bacterial diseases have been reported. Bacterial white enteritis occurs in 16 to 30-day-old flounder larvae and often causes mass mortality in seed production. Bacterium named Vibrio sp. INFL invades and multiplies in the mucosae of posterier part of intestine, and causes desquamative enteritis. Gliding bacterial disease occurs mostly in juvenile stage and in spring to summer. Diseased signs are partial discoloration and erosion of skin and fins. Histologically, epidermis are removed, and the causative bacterium, Flexibacter maritimus, multiplies on the surface of demis and invades into the muscular tissue. Vibriosis caused by Vibrio anguillarum and related organisum is one of the well-known diseases among marine fish. Outbreaks of the disease in flounder culture are relatively few, but mass mortalities in fingerlings due to the disease were reported. An outbreak of nocardiosis in the autumn of 1984 has been reported, but since then the disease scarcely occurred. The disease is characterized by formation of abscesses under the skin and white nodes in the gill, heart, spleen and kidney. Streptococcicosis occurs frequently in recent years. Beta-hemolytic streptococcus is the causative bacterium, which possesses the same biochemical and serological characteristics as $\beta$-streptococci isolated from some marine and freshwater fish, and is seemed to related to Streptococcus iniae. Edwardsiellosis is the disease that causes most damage in flounder culture in Japan. Characteristic symptoms are swelling of abdomen and intestinal protrusion from the anus due to accumulation of ascites. Edwardsiella tarda, a well-known pathogen of freshwater fish, is the causative bacterium of the disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.3151-3156
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• 2014

Background: Sorafenib is a promising drug for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, treatment may be discontinued for multiple reasons, such as progressive disease, adverse events, or the cost of treatment. The consequences of sorafenib discontinuation and continuation are uncertain. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 88 HCC patients treated with sorafenib from July 2007 to January 2013. Overall survival (OS), post-disease progression overall survival (pOS), and time to disease progression (TTP) were compared for survival analysis. Cox proportional hazard regression was performed to assess the effect of important factors on OS in the overall patient population and on pOS in patients who continued sorafenib treatment. Results: Sorafenib was discontinued and continued in 24 and 64 patients, respectively. The median OS (355 vs 517 days respectively; p=0.015) and median post-PD OS (260 vs 317 days, respectively; p=0.020) were statistically different between the discontinuation and continuation groups. Neither the median time to first PD nor the time to second PD were significantly different between the 2 groups. In the discontinuation group, 3 of the 24 patients (12.5%) suffered disease outbreaks. In Cox proportional hazard regression analysis after correction for confounding factors, BCLC stage (p=0.002) and PD site (p=0.024) were significantly correlated with pOS in patients who continued sorafenib treatment. Conclusions: Sorafenib discontinuation may cause HCC flares or outbreaks. It is advisable to continue sorafenib treatment after first PD, particularly in patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B disease or only intrahepatic PD.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2018

Campylobacter jejuni is an important food-borne pathogen causing gastroenteritis in human. We isolated 208 strains of Campylobacter jejuni from 430 diarrhea patients and food employees with 17 food-poisoning outbreaks between 2014 and 2016 in Gyeonggi area. The strains were tested for genetic relationship and the genotype distribution using PFGE and multiplex-PCR typing. Among the 47 Penner-serotypes known for C. jejuni, it was identified as a genotype consisting of 35 genotypes by multiplex-PCR typing and represented 7 genotypes (HS2, HS4A, HS8, HS15, HS29, HS41, and HS53) in the selected strain. From the PFGE analysis of 11 food-poisoning outbreaks, 5 group of PFGE profile were obtained, and genetic similarity in these clusters ranged from 61.8 to 66.6%. This study examines the genetic diversity of C. jejuni that have been separated in the Gyeonggi area through various genetic analysis methods and identifies the correlation between strains in patients who have been infected with the disease in the future.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.97-100
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• 2014

This study was performed in Korea to get serological information for bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1), most commonly found in cattle. Antibodies against BoHV-1 were examined by targeting infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) in unvaccinated and vaccinated cattle, using viral neutralization (VN) test. In 2013, among 261 sera collected from IBR-unvaccinated herds, 7 sera (2.7%) were found seropositive and their VN titers were ranging from 1:4 to 1:32. Among 315 sera collected from IBR-vaccinated herds in large capacity farms, 303 sera (96.2%) were found to be seropositive for BoHV-1 and their VN titers were in the range of 1:4 to 1:2048. It was found that the IBR-vaccinated herds had higher levels of VN titer than IBR-unvaccinated herds. The results indicated that it may be due to heavy vaccination in vaccinated herds and no or a little infection in unvaccinated herds. At the end of the study it was concluded that although the seropositivity in IBR-unvaccinated herds was low, the monitoring of IBR should be continuously practiced to control and prevent the disease because of exportation of living cattle causing its nationwide outbreaks.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.42.1-42.6
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• 2023

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is one of the most important emerging transboundary diseases. Recently, LSD has emerged in many countries in the northern hemisphere. The LSD virus has a huge genome and is highly resistant to environmental conditions. The virus is also host-specific and large ruminants, such as cattle and domestic water buffalo, are particularly susceptible. In addition, wild ruminants can serve as potential reservoirs for spreading the LSD virus. The emergence might be related to climate change in various regions because LSD is an arthropod-borne infectious disease. This disease causes enormous economic losses, such as leather damage, decreased milk production, abortion, and death in infected ruminants. The economic importance of LSD in the bovine industry has forced countries to develop and implement control strategies against the disease. With the recent global spread and the economic impact, LSD will be discussed intensively. In addition, effective preventive measures are suggested based on the presence or absence of LSD outbreaks.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.41-50
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aims to suggest an analysis model finding the relationship between building scale characteristics of Public-use facilities and infectious disease outbreaks around senior leisure welfare facilities and the features and their scopes where quarantine resources are to be concentrated. Methods: Reviewing previous studies found the user characteristics of senior leisure welfare facilities and scale characteristics of urban architectures. The data preprocessing was performed after collecting building data and infectious disease outbreak data in the analysis area. This study derived data for attributes of building size and frequency of infectious disease outbreaks in Public-use facilities around senior leisure welfare facilities. A computing algorithm was implemented to analyze the correlation between the building size characteristics and the infectious disease outbreak frequency as per the change of the spatial scope. Results: The results of this study are as follows: First, the suggested model was to analyze the correlation between the infection frequency and the number of senior leisure welfare facilities, the number of Public-use facilities, building area, total floor area, site area, height, building-to-land ratio, and floor area ratio varied as per the change of spatial scope. Second, correlation results varied between the infection frequency and the number of senior leisure welfare facilities, the number of Public-use facilities, building area, total floor area, site area, height, building-to-land ratio, and floor area ratio. Third, a negative correlation appeared in the analysis between the number of senior leisure welfare facilities and infection frequency. And positive correlations appeared noticeably in the study between the number of Public-use facilities, building area, total floor area, height, building-to-land ratio, and floor area ratio. Implications: This study can be used as primary data on the utilization of limited quarantine resources by analyzing the relationship between the Public-use facilities around the senior leisure welfare facilities and the spread of infectious diseases. In addition, it suggests that infectious disease prevention measures are necessary considering the spatial scope of the analysis area and the size of buildings.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.274-277
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• 2017

Objectives: Legionnaires' disease (LD) is a severe type of pneumonia caused by inhalation of aerosols contaminated with Legionella. On September 22, 2016, a single case of LD was reported from a newly built apartment building in Gyeonggi province. This article describes an epidemiologic investigation of LD and identification of the possible source of infection. Methods: To identify the source of LD, we interviewed the patient's husband using a questionnaire based on the Legionella management guidelines from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Water samples from the site were collected and analyzed. An epidemiological investigation of the residents and visitors in the apartment building was conducted for 14 days before the index patient's symptoms first appeared to 14 days after the implementation of environmental control measures. Results: Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from the heated-water samples from the patient's residence and the basement of the apartment complex. Thirty-two suspected cases were reported from the apartment building during the surveillance period, yet all were confirmed negative based on urinary antigen tests. Conclusions: The likely source of infection was the building's potable water, particularly heated water. Further study of effective monitoring systems in heated potable water should be considered.