• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.3 s.62
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• pp.540-563
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• 1998

This Study has been carried out to make a recommendation for the next amendment of the Infectious Disease Prevention Act with a specific focus on the kind of notifyable disease. Korean, Japanese, German, U.S, English and French acts on infectious diseases prevention were reviewed, compared with and analized in regards of numbers and kinds of notifyable infectious diseases and their tendency of amendments. An criteria was designed to assess the level of validity of diseases to be designated in the act. Four items, the fatality (greater than 10% or not), the possibility to make a big epidemic, the availability of efficient vaccination and the usefulness of isolation, are used in the assessment. This index is applied to the diseases in Korean and other countries' Infectious Disease Prevention Acts. Results are as follows: 1. The Korean Infectious Disease Preventon Act has a unique way of classifying the notifyable infectious disease, that is, the first, the second and the third class. But the author cannot find the basis of classification. No other countries reviewed have the similar classification. 2. The ten diseases, cholera, plague, yellow fever, diphtheria, typhoid fever, poliomyelitis, rabies, tetanus, malaria, and meningococcal meningitis are designated as the notifyable diseases not only in Korea but also in Japan, Germany, United States, England and france. 3. Thirty seven diseases including small pox, Lassa fever, anthrax, influenza, German measles, Legionellosis, infection with E. coli O157:H7, Q-fever, brucellosis, Lyme disease are designated as legal disease at least one of the above mentioned countries. 4. The Korea has been coped with the change of the infectious disease occurrence for last fifty years in amendment of the Infectious Disease Prevention Act. 5. Japan has a special infectious surveillance system composed of 3,880 clinics throughout the whole country. 6. Germany has classified infectious diseases in five categories which are based on seriousness of disease. Any confirmed death, cases and suspected cases in class I should be reported within 24 hours. But only confirmed death and cases in class II, but not suspected cases, are reportable in Germarny. 7. Plague, bacillary dysentery, pertussis, mumps, Japanese encephaltis and Korean hemorrhagic fevers are diseases with high credits validity index among Korean legal disease. 8. German measles, anthrax, E. coli O157 : H7 infection, Lassa fever, Q-fever, brucellosis are high in validity index among those which are not designated in Korea but designated in other countries. In conclusion, the Korean Infectious Disease Prevention Act has well been coped with the changes of infectious disease occurrence for last fifty years, but the classification basis and the validity of diseases to be designated as legal diseases is worth reevaluating.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.144-157
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• 2013

Purpose: Health management programs should provide comprehensive health services for students and staffs at schools. Health management programs are critical for helping students become adults with physically, mentally, and socially good health conditions. The aim of this study was to identify the past and present history of health management programs and health laws to help schools develop future health plans. Methods: This study was conducted by analyzing reference data collected using data from Ministry of Education and Science Technology, Korean Educational Development Institute, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Statistical Office as well as legal documents from the Legislative Office related to school health from 2001 to 2010. Results: Health management programs in schools included three sections: disease prevention and control, physical examinations, and prevention of communicable diseases. Disease prevention and controls consisted of obesity control, drug abuse prevention and control,and management of students' mental health. Various strategies and services were developed to improve health status of students for 10 years from 2001 to 2010. School health laws and systems have been established for disease prevention, physical examinations and communicable disease control as well, to improve students' health as well. Conclusion: The history of health management programs has a number of implications to help design future plans for school health programs and services for students and staffs.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.91-101
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aims to explore the effects of government's value intervention messages on the prevention and control of infectious disease in the risk communication process in terms of goveremnt policy response to COVID-19 from the mismatch message perspective, and draws the relevant implicaitons. Due to the infeciton spread, some people point out that depression caused by COVID-19 is because of wrong signals of the government and infectious disease prevention and control authorities, namely value intervention messsages. Research design, data and methodology: This study examined the epidcmic situation through message deails regarding the effects of government's mismatch messages on prevention and control of infectious disease and the resulting phenomena. Results: People's lives are under serious threat overall, so the declaration of the end of COVID-19 is almost impossible unlike MERS. Economic downturn due to foreced prevention and control regulaitons of COVID-19, mistruct of social distancing, fatigue on mismatch messages, and moral hazard on the awareness of prevention and control of infectious disease are negative phenomena to risk communiaiton on COVID-19. Conclusions: This study investigated the government authorities' policy sending wrong signals due to mismatching of the reality at this point in time for infectious disease prevention and control from the risk communicaiton perspectrive.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.61 no.11
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• pp.366-370
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• 2018

Purpose: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important diseases that cause significant mortality and morbidity in young children. Data on TB transmission from an infected child are limited. Herein, we report a case of disseminated TB in a child and conducted a contact investigation among exposed individuals. Methods: A 4-year-old child without Bacille Calmette-$Gu{\acute{e}}rin$ vaccination was diagnosed as having culture-proven disseminated TB. The child initially presented with symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, and nosocomial and kindergarten exposures were reported. The exposed individuals to the index case were divided into 3 groups, namely household, nosocomial, or kindergarten contacts. Evaluation was performed following the Korean guidelines for TB. Kindergarten contacts were further divided into close or casual contacts. Chest radiography and tuberculin skin test or interferon-gamma-releasing assay were performed for the contacts. Results: We examined 327 individuals (3 household, 10 nosocomial, and 314 kindergarten contacts), of whom 18 (5.5%), the brother of the index patient, and 17 kindergarten children were diagnosed as having latent TB infection (LTBI). LTBI diagnosis was more frequent in the children who had close kindergarten contact with the index case (17.1% vs. 4.4%, P=0.007). None of the cases had active TB. Conclusion: This is the first reported case of TB transmission among young children from a pediatric patient with disseminated TB in Korea. TB should be emphasized as a possible cause of chronic diarrhea and failure to thrive in children. A national TB control policy has been actively applied to identify Korean children with LTBI.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.589-592
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• 2020

Cyclospora cayetanensis is an apicomplexan protozoan and is one of the most common pathogens causing chronic diarrhea worldwide. Eight stool samples with diarrheal symptom out of 18 Korean residents who traveled to Nepal were obtained, and examined for 25 enteropathogens including 16 bacterial species, 5 viral species, and 4 protozoans in stool samples as causative agents of water-borne and food-borne disease. Only C. cayetanensis was detected by nested PCR, and 3 PCR-positive samples were sequenced to confirm species identification. However, the oocysts of C. cayetanensis in fecal samples could not be detected by direct microscopy of the stained sample. As far as we know, this is the first report of a group infection with C. cayetanensis from a traveler visiting Nepal, and the second report of a traveler's diarrhea by C. cayetanensis imported in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.101-108
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• 2018

Objectives: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) is a national surveillance system that has been assessing the health and nutritional status of Koreans since 1998. Based on the National Health Promotion Act, the surveys have been conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Methods: An oral examination as part of The National Health and Nutrition Examination was proposed to calculate the sample design and survey participation. The surveying system was presented by classifying the measurement environment, screening, and survey items by year, and the merits and limitations of using the data were suggested by examining the status of survey quality management and the process of disclosing raw data. Results: This nationally representative cross-sectional survey samples approximately 10,000 individuals each year and collects information on oral examinations and oral health interviews. Data for the oral health component of KNHANES was obtained to assess the oral health status of Koreans and determine the prevalence of dental caries and periodontitis. The oral health data quality control of KNHANES was composed of three parts: "Education Program" and "Field Training Program" for quality control of oral health examiners (dentists) by the professional academy, and "Data management" by the KCDC. After completion of the three-step data check, the indicators of dental caries, periodontal disease, and oral health behavior were published in the National Health Statistics. Conclusions: To achieve the goals of oral health indicators, we will continue to monitor so that we can use it as basic data for oral policies and carry out various linkage analyses related to oral diseases.

• Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.287-288
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• 2018

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.85-87
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• 2013

An outbreak of Staphylococcus aureus infections occurred in a university with an enrollment of 80 students in the city of Daejon, Republic of Korea. All nine S. aureus isolates from patients (n = 7), staff members (n = 1), and the fried chicken served as the lunch (n = 1) harbored the enterotoxin A gene and showed an identical antibioticresistant profile, PFGE banding pattern (STAS16.001), and sequence type, ST 6. These results suggested that the outbreak was associated with eating the fried chicken that had been handled by an infected staff member. This case report demonstrated a practical approach to identifying the source and transmission of an infection.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.10
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• pp.702-717
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• 2022

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can lead to chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV employs diverse strategies to evade host antiviral innate immune responses to mediate a persistent infection. In the present study, we show that nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) interacts with an NF-κB inhibitor immunomodulatory kinase, IKKε, and subsequently downregulates beta interferon (IFN-β) promoter activity. We further demonstrate that NS5A inhibits DDX3-mediated IKKε and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) phosphorylation. We also note that hyperphosphorylation of NS5A mediates protein interplay between NS5A and IKKε, thereby contributing to NS5A mediated modulation of IFN-β signaling. Lastly, NS5A inhibits IKKε-dependent p65 phosphorylation and NF-κB activation. Based on these findings, we propose NS5A as a novel regulator of IFN signaling events, specifically by inhibiting IKKε downstream signaling cascades through its interaction with IKKε. Taken together, these data suggest an additional mechanistic means by which HCV modulates host antiviral innate immune responses to promote persistent viral infection.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.309-315
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• 2022

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and recurrent illness of the gastrointestinal tract. Treatment of IBD traditionally involves the use of aminosalicylic acid and steroids, while these drugs has been associated with untoward effects and refractoriness. The absence of effective treatment regimen against IBD has led to the exploration of new targets. Parasites are promising as an alternative therapy for IBD. Recent studies have highlighted the use of parasite-derived substances, such as excretory secretory products, extracellular vesicles (EVs), and exosomes, for the treatment of IBD. In this report, we examined whether EVs secreted by Giardia lamblia could prevent colitis in a mouse model. G. lamblia EVs (GlEVs) were prepared from in vitro cultures of Giardia trophozoites. Clinical signs, microscopic colon tissue inflammation, and cytokine expression levels were detected to assess the effect of GlEV treatment on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced experimental murine colitis. The administration of GlEVs prior to DSS challenge reduced the expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 1 beta, and interferon gamma. Our results indicate that GlEV can exert preventive effects and possess therapeutic properties against DSS-induced colitis.