• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.153-161
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• 2017

Branching processes which is used for epidemic dispersion as stochastic process model have advantages to estimate parameters by real data. We have to estimate both mean and dispersion parameter in order to use the negative binomial distribution as an offspring distribution on branching processes. In existing studies on biology and epidemiology, it is estimated using maximum-likelihood methods. However, for most of epidemic data, it is hard to get the best precision of maximum-likelihood estimator. We suggest a Bayesian inference that have good properties of statistics for small-sample. After estimating dispersion parameter we modelled the posterior distribution for 2015 Korea MERS cases. As the result, we found that the estimated dispersion parameter is relatively stable no matter how we assume prior distribution. We also computed extinction probabilities on branching processes using estimated dispersion parameters.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1641-1643
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• 2013

Norovirus is the major cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Between November 2012 and June 2013, 1718 stool samples were requested for norovirus antigen testing in the metropolitan areas of South Korea, and 91 samples were genotyped. The norovirus antigen-positive rate peaked at 52.8% in December 2013. A novel norovirus GII.4 variant, GII.4 Sydney 2012, was the most frequently found genotype (60.4%) during this period. This study demonstrates that norovirus activity increased during the winter of 2012-2013 in South Korea and that norovirus GII.4 Sydney 2012 was the cause of the norovirus epidemic during this period.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1109-1114
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• 2016

H3N2 canine influenza virus emerged in South Korea in 2007 and subsequently spread to China and Thailand, causing epidemic or endemic respiratory diseases in dogs. Through intermammalian species transmission, the virus has also infected cats. However, no direct evidence of significant genetic evolution has been reported since its first emergence. Here, we describe in depth the genetic and molecular characteristics of the ancestral strain (i.e., the first virus isolate from South Korea) of the H3N2 canine influenza virus currently circulating in East Asia.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.545-552
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• 2018

Plasmodium vivax is more challenging to control and eliminate than P. falciparum due to its more asymptomatic infections with low parasite densities making diagnosis more difficult, in addition to its unique biological characteristics. The potential re-introduction of incidence cases, either through borders or via human migrations, is another major hurdle to sustained control and elimination. The Republic of Korea has experienced re-emergence of vivax malaria in 1993 but is one of the 32 malaria-eliminating countries to-date. Despite achieving successful nationwide control and elimination of vivax malaria, the evolutionary characteristics of vivax malaria isolates in the Republic of Korea have not been fully understood. In this review, we present an overview of the genetic variability of such isolates to increase understanding of the epidemiology, diversity, and dynamics of vivax populations in the Republic of Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.73-83
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• 2021

Although many swine farms continuously vaccinated to sow to prevent Porcine epidemic diarrhea(PED), PED has occurred annually in swine herds in Jeonbuk province, Korea. In the present study, the small intestine and feces samples from 17 farms where severe watery diarrhea and death of newborn piglets occurred in 2019 were collected, amplified by RT-PCR and determined the complete nucleotide sequences of the spike (S) glycoprotein genes of nine Jeonbuk PEDV isolates. The spike (S) glycoprotein is an important determinant for molecular characterization and genetic relationship of PEDV. These nine complete S gene isolates were compared with other PEDV reference strains to identify the molecular diversity, phylogenetic relationships and antigenicity analysis. 9 field strains share 98.5~100% homologies with each other at the nucleotide sequence level and 97.3~100% homologies with each other at the amino acid level. The nine Jeonbuk PEDV isolates were classified into G2b group including a genetic specific signal, S-indels (insertion and deletion of S gene). In addition, comparisons the neutralizing epitopes of S gene between 9 field strains and domestic vaccine strains of Korea mutated 12-15 amino acids with SM-98-1 (G1a group) and mutated 0-3 amino acids with QIAP1401 (G2b group). Therefore, the development of G2b-based live vaccines will have to be expedited to ensure effective prevention of endemic PED in Korea. In addition, we will need to be prepared with periodic updates of preventive vaccines based on the PEDV variants for the re-emergence of a virulent strain.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.11-29
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• 2017

Objectives : Contemporary researches suspect that, contrary to the past belief, the understanding that the cause of warm pathogen lies in the upper portion of human body is an understanding that had been well-established even before Yetianshi. This new understanding now requires us to contemplate the process of theoretical development which this understanding, termed Onsasangsu, had taken within the boundary of the theory of warm pathogen. This paper aims to shed light on this within the framework that this is the emergence of a new theory of warm pathogen caused by a new understanding of warm pathogen. Methods : First, the theories of warm pathogen as developed by historical doctors were studied, and elements that seem to be related to the understanding of Onsasangsu were selected and studied to understand their theoretical characteristics. Furthermore, the paper studied what academic significance do these theories have on the development of the theory of warm pathogen. Results & Conclusions : Provided that the underlying assumption of Onsasangsu is that febrile diseases are caused through moutn and nose, the study showed that this understanding arose before the period of Qing Dynsasty from the need by many doctors to differentiate the pathogens of various diseases such as the disease of heat, febrile disease, and epidemic. The reason that these discussions could not have much impact on the study of febrile disease during the Qing Dynasty could be because they were not passed on down to the future generations, or because commonly held perspective was unable to accept criticisms.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2022

Swine influenza (SI) is an important respiratory disease in pigs and epidemic worldwide, which is caused by influenza A virus (IAV) belonging to the family of Orthomyxoviridae. As seen again in the 2009 swine-origin influenza A H1N1 pandemic, pigs are known to be susceptible to swine, avian, and human IAVs, and can serve as a 'mixing vessel' for the generation of novel IAV variants. To this end, the emergence of swine influenza viruses must be kept under close surveillance. Herein, we report the isolation and phylogenetic study of a swine IAV, A/swine/Korea/21810/2021 (sw21810, H3N2 subtype). BLASTN sequence analysis of 8 gene segments of the isolated virus revealed a high degree of nucleotide similarity (94.76 to 100%) to porcine strains circulating in Korea and the United States. Out of 8 genome segments, the HA gene was closely related to that of isolates from cluster I. Additionally, the NA gene of the isolate belonged to a Korean Swine H1N1 origin, and the PB2, PB1, NP and NS genes of the isolate were grouped into that of the Triple reassortant swine H3N2 origin virus. The PA and M genes of the isolate belonged to 2009 Pandemic H1N1 lineage. Human infection with mutants was most common through contact with infected pigs. Our results suggest the need for periodic close monitoring of this novel swine H3N2 influenza virus from a public health perspective.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.199-207
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• 2023

To prepare for the threat of a future epidemic in the post-COVID-19 era, research based on the one-health concept (i.e., the health of humans, animals, and the environment as "one") is essential. Cross-species infections are being identified as a result of the high infection rate and viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. The possibility of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to mink has been determined. In addition, the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to cats through contact has been considered possible. The data so far show that livestock and poultry are less likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, if infections are established through a new mutation, the resulting diseases are expected to have enormous ripple effects on various fields, such as human food security, the economy, and trade. In addition, there are concerns about the endemic prospect of SARS-CoV-2 and the high accessibility of companion animals. This is because the evolution of the virus likely occurs in animal hosts. Once SARS-CoV-2 is established in other species, they might serve as intermediate hosts for the re-emergence of the virus in the human population. Thus, it is necessary to ensure a rapid response to future outbreaks by accumulating research data on the animal infection of SARS-CoV-2. These data can have implications for the development of animal models for vaccines and therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, in this study, epidemiological reviews were analyzed, and response strategies against SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals were presented using the One-health approach.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.139-148
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• 2020

Infectious diseases have long plagued mankind, and predicting and preventing them has been a big challenge for mankind. For this reasen, various studies have been conducted so far to predict infectious diseases. Most of the early studies relied on epidemiological data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the problem was that the data provided by the CDC was updated only once a week, making it difficult to predict the number of real-time disease outbreaks. However, with the emergence of various Internet media due to the recent development of IT technology, studies have been conducted to predict the occurrence of infectious diseases through web data, and most of the studies we have researched have been using single Web data to predict diseases. However, disease forecasting through a single Web data has the disadvantage of having difficulty collecting large amounts of learning data and making accurate predictions through models for recent outbreaks such as "COVID-19". Thus, we would like to demonstrate through experiments that models that use multiple Web data to predict the occurrence of infectious diseases through LSTM models are more accurate than those that use single Web data and suggest models suitable for predicting infectious diseases. In this experiment, we predicted the occurrence of "Malaria" and "Epidemic-parotitis" using a single web data model and the model we propose. A total of 104 weeks of NEWS, SNS, and search query data were collected, of which 75 weeks were used as learning data and 29 weeks were used as verification data. In the experiment we predicted verification data using our proposed model and single web data, Pearson correlation coefficient for the predicted results of our proposed model showed the highest similarity at 0.94, 0.86, and RMSE was also the lowest at 0.19, 0.07.