• 대한미생물학회지
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.181-189
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• 1986

To apply ELISA to serodiagnosis of leptospirosis with killed whole cells from Leptospira interrogans serovars mwogolo (Mwogolo), copenhageni (M-20), WH-20, autumnalis (Akiyami A), cynopteri (3522 C), australis (Bacillico) and Leptospira biflexa serovar patoc (patoc 1), sensitivity and specificity was evaluated. The reactivity of IgM and IgG antibody in the sera from patients with leptospirosis, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and other febrile disease and normal healthy control to the killed whole cells was analysed. The results were summarized as follows. 1. The reactivity (absorbance at 492mn) of IgM and IgG to L. mwogolo antigen in the sera of pattients with leptospirosis were $1.414{\pm}0.370$, $1.242{\pm}9.554$ respectively: hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, $0.329{\pm}0.131$, $0.239{\pm}0.126$; other febrile disease, $0.196{\pm}0.071$, $0355{\pm}0.141$; normal healthy control, $0.136{\pm}0.016$, $0.208{\pm}0.077$. 2. The reactivity of IgM and IgG to L. copenhageni, WH-20, L. autumnalis, L. cynopteri and L. anstralis antigens were similar to that to L. mwogolo antigen, but that to L. biflexa antigen was not discriminated among above disease. 3. Correlation coefficient between the MAT titer and ELISA OD (IgM) to the above antigens was in the range of 0.071-0.518. 4. As absorbance above 0.60 was determined positive for the diagnosis of leptospirosis, the sensitivity and specificity of IgG was 25-89% and 91-96% respectively. And those of IgM was 98-100% and 89-100% except L. biflexa (29%) respectively.

• 대한바이러스학회지
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• 제28권4호
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• pp.377-382
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• 1998

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), scrub typhus, murine typhus and leptospirosis have been the principal acute febrile diseases in Korea. To evaluate the seroepidemiologic patterns of acute febrile illness, sera collected from 2,423 patients in 1996 were examined for antibodies against Hantaan virus, Orientia tsutsugamushi, Rickettsia typhi, and Borrelia burgdorferi by indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique (IFA) and macroscopic agglutination test for Leptospira interogans. Seropositive cases against Otsutsugamushi, Rickettsia typhi, Leptospira interogans and Hantaan virus were 192 (7.9%), 193 (8.0%), 12 (0.5%) and 324 (13.4%), respectively. Male was more affected in HFRS and murine typhus contrasting to scrub typhus and leptospirosis in female. Most positive cases occurred during October and November for scrub typhus, and during November and December for HFRS. These results showed similar patterns with previous epidemical data for recent couple of years, and possibly implied no significant changes occurred in ecologic situations for acute febrile diseases in Korea.

• 농촌의학ㆍ지역보건
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2019

이 연구는 국내의 대표적인 가을철 발열성 질환으로 고위험군 중 재배농업인을 대상으로 선택하여 가을철 발열성 질환에 감염실태와 위험요인, 인지도을 조사하여 질병에 대한 증거기반에 전략을 제공하고자 이 연구를 수행하게 되었다. 농업인 감염병 실태조사 방법은 지역사회에 일부 재배농업인 841명을 혈청학적 검사와 설문조사를 시행하였고, 혈청학적 기준은 수동혈구응집법과 면역크로마토그래피법으로 시행되었다. 혈청감염에 영향을 주는 일반적 특성으로는 쯔쯔가무시증이 나이가 증가할수록 혈청반응이 증가하였고, 렙토스피라증은 과거병력과 가족병력이 혈청반응이 유의하게 높았다. 그리고 신증후군출혈열은 종사기간이 증가할수록 혈청반응이 증가하였다. 또 다른 결과로는 혈청감염에 영향을 미치는 위험요인으로는 쯔쯔가무시증은 진드기에 물린 적이 있는 경우 혈청반응이 높았고, 렙토스피라증은 과수재배 관련된 일을 하는 경우 혈청반응이 높았다. 또한 신증후군출혈열은 비닐하우스 관련된 일을 한 적이 있는 경우 혈청반응이 높았다. 결론적으로 취악한 직업인 재배농업인 감염병에 대한 인식 형성 할 수 있도록 정부에서 효율적이고 효과적인 방법을 개발해야 할 것이다. 그리고 질병에 대한 조기 발견과 치료로 합병증 없이 건강한 삶을 살 수 있도록 주민들 인식에 영향을 줄 수 있는 교육과 홍보 그리고 질병 특성에 맞는 특정 예방 전략을 개발해야 할 것으로 생각한다.

• 한국임상수의학회지
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.1-5
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• 1997

This experiment was performed to investigate the leptospiral antibody in dairy cattle with serological test in three areas of Kangwondo from February to June, 1995. Twelve different living antigen's (S icterohemorrhagiae, Lpomona, L hardjo, L australis, L canicola, L autumnalis, L grippotyphosa, L tarassovi, L pyroenes, L bataviae, L hebdomadis and L ballum) of Leptospira interrogans were used for the serological test in dairy cattle. The blood samples of 130 cattle were examinde by microscopic agglutination test. Among the serum samples of the dairy cattle, 5 heads of the dairy cattle (3.8%) were positive. Among the positive samples of 5 heads, 3 heads of dairy cattle (2.3%) showed the antibody of L canicola, 2 heads of dairy cattle (1.5%) showed the antibody of L icterohaemorrhagiae. Positive rate by age was 0% ($\leq $2year), 4.6% (3~4year) and 6.6% ($\geq $5year).

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제43권5호
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• pp.436-444
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• 2010

Objectives: Infectious diseases are known to be affected by climate change. We investigated if the infectious diseases were related to meteorological factors in Korea. Methods: Scrub typhus, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), leptospirosis, malaria and Vibrio vulnificus sepsis among the National Notifiable Infectious Diseases were selected as the climate change-related infectious diseases. Temperature, relative humidity and precipitation were used as meteorological factors. The study period was from 2001 through 2008. We examined the seasonality of the diseases and those correlations with meteorological factors. We also analyzed the correlations between the incidences of the diseases during the outbreak periods and monthly meteorological factors in the hyper-endemic regions. Results: All of the investigated diseases showed strong seasonality; malaria and V. vulnificus sepsis were prevalent in summer and scrub typhus, HFRS and leptospirosis were prevalent in the autumn. There were significant correlations between the monthly numbers of cases and all the meteorological factors for malaria and V. vulnificus sepsis, but there were no correlation for the other diseases. However, the incidence of scrub typhus in hyper-endemic region during the outbreak period was positively correlated with temperature and humidity during the summer. The incidences of HFRS and leptospirosis had positive correlations with precipitation in November and temperature and humidity in February, respectively. V. vulnificus sepsis showed positive correlations with precipitation in April/May/July. Conclusions: In Korea, the incidences of the infectious diseases were correlated with meteorological factors, and this implies that the incidences could be influenced by climate change.

• 대한미생물학회지
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.211-226
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• 1986

To understand the pathogenesis of anicteric leptospirosis with severe pulmonary hemorrhage occured in Korea, the microbiological and pathological features were observed in the experimentally induced leptospirosis in guinea pigs infected with a virulent strain of Leptospira interrogans isolated from the patient at Wonju, Korea, and the results are summarized as follows. 1. The main pathological features were widespread hemorrhages, especially affecting lung, skeletal muscles, retroperitoneal and perirenal adipose tissues. The hemorrhages accompanied inflammatory process especially of vasculitic pattern as well as occasional coagulation necrosis in the liver, skeletal muscle, and myocardium. The main inflammatory cells were of plasma cell even in the fairly early stage of the infection. 2. Those pathologic changes were more exaggerated in the inoculation site. 3. Within 144 hours of infection, the longer the infection time, the more antigens were observed in the tissues, and the severer the pathologic changes. 4. Leptospiral antigens were detected at first by indirect immunofluorescent and immunoperoxidase technics. As the infection time extended, the antigens were observed in all of the tissues examined except in the skeletal muscle. The shape of the antigens was spiral or thread-like within 72 hours of infection. As the infection progressed, they became fragmented and granular. 5. Leptospires were detected in the blood within 144 hours of infection by darkfield microscopic examination. Thereafter, none was observed. 6. Antibody to leptospires were detected as early as 72 hours of infection. In summary, the virulent strain of L. interrogans used in this experiment induced widespread hemorrhages with inflammatory reaction especially in lung, skeletal muscles, and retroperitoneal adipose tissue. With these findings, it is suggested that the direct toxic effect of leptospires might playa great role in the pathogenesis of this infection.

• 대한미생물학회지
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• 제35권5_6호
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• pp.365-365
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• 2000

• 대한미생물학회지
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.331-336
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• 1986

A microbiological study for the isolation and characterization of Leptospira interrogans was performed in an attempt to define the characteristics of Leptospirosis in Korea. The results are summerised as follows. Thirty-five cultures were isolated from 11 patients with leptospirosis and 24 wild rodents captured in Paju area. The isolation rate of Leptospira from wild rodents reached 23.1%. All 35 cultures were identified as Leptospira interrogans by their characteristic morphology and motility in dark field microscopy, pathogenecity in Guinea pig and sensitivity to 8-Azaguanine. Cultures formed diffuse subsurface colonies with hazy margin and were catalase, peroxidase and oxdase positive. The fifty percent lethal dose of isolate HM 4 in Guinea pig was $8.9{\times}10^4$ org. Mouse passage method was sucecssfully applied in maintenance of fresh isolates without any loss of their original virulency.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.117-124
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• 2005

Before twentieth centuries and during early twentieth centuries, communicable diseases were the major cause of morbidity and mortality in Korea. But reliable data are not available. After 1975, the overall morbidity and mortality from communicable diseases, rapidly declined. Recently many new pathogenic microbes were recognized: L. monocytogenes, Hantaan virus, Y. pseudotuberculosis, P. multocida, L. pneumophilia, Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), G. seoi, H. capsulatum, C. burnetii, V. cholerae O139, C. parvum, F. tularensis, E. coli O157:H7, B. burgdorferi, S. Typhimurium DT104, Rotavirus, hepatitis C virus and so on. Since the first HIV infection recognized in 1985, the reported cases of infection and deaths from HIV/AIDS have been steady increased each year. Legionnaire's disease, E. coli O157:H7 colitis, listeriosis and crytosporidiasis have been occurring just sporadically among immunocompromized cases. Many re-emerging communicable diseases were occurred in Korea: leptospirosis, malaria, endemic typhus, cholera, tsutsugamushi disease, salmonellosis, hepatitis A, shigellosis, mumps, measles, acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, brucellosis and so on. Leptospirosis and tsutsugamushi diseases have been noticed as major public health problems since 1980s. The malaria that had been virtually disappeared for a decade has reappeared from 1993 with striking increase of patients in recent 3-4 years. The distributions of salmonella and shigella serotypes have been changed a lot in recent few decades. Furthermore rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains induces more difficult and complex problems in control of communicable diseases. We must recognize on the importance of environment and ecosystem conservation and careful prescription of anti-microbial agent in order to prevent communicable diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.779-784
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• 2013

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis of global concern caused by Leptospira interrogans. The availability of ligand libraries has facilitated the search for novel drug targets using chemogenomics approaches, compared with the traditional method of drug discovery, which is time consuming and yields few leads with little intracellular information for guiding target selection. Recent subtractive genomics studies have revealed the putative drug targets in peptidoglycan biosynthesis pathways in Leptospira interrogans. Aligand library for the murD ligase enzyme in the peptidoglycan pathway has also been identified. Our approach in this research involves screening of the pre-existing ligand library of murD with related protein family members in the putative drug target assembly in the peptidoglycan biosynthesis pathway. A chemogenomics approach has been implemented here, which involves screening of known ligands of a protein family having analogous domain architecture for identification of leads for existing druggable protein family members. By means of this approach, one murC and one murF inhibitor were identified, providing a platform for developing an anti-leptospirosis drug targeting the peptidoglycan biosynthesis pathway. Given that the peptidoglycan biosynthesis pathway is exclusive to bacteria, the in silico identified mur ligase inhibitors are expected to be broad-spectrum Gram-negative inhibitors if synthesized and tested in in vitro and in vivo assays.