• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제65권3호
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• pp.108-114
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• 2022

The Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable encephalitis in Asia. Since the introduction of a universal JE vaccination program and urbanization of Korea, the incidence of JE has dramatically decreased in Korea. However, recent JE cases have occurred, predominantly among unvaccinated adults and with a shift in age distribution. Here we aimed to review the changes in age-specific JE seroprevalence over time and discuss the implications of JE vaccination programs in Korea. Following the last epidemic in 1982-1983, mandatory vaccination for all children aged 3-15 years was conducted annually until 1994. However, JE has reemerged, predominantly affecting unvaccinated adults aged 40 years or older and demonstrating a shift in age distribution toward older populations. The age-specific seroprevalence of the JE virus in Korea has changed noticeably over time. Seropositivity in children and adolescents increased from 10%-59% in the 1970s to 90%-92% in the 1980s after the implementation of the JE vaccination program and increased further to 98% in 2012. No age-specific difference in the seroprevalence of JE was found, and appropriate levels of immunity to JE were maintained for all age groups. Continuous surveillance of the seroprevalence of JE is essential to establish a proper immunization policy in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제56권6호
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• pp.515-522
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• 2023

Objectives: The pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exerted an unprecedented impact on the health of populations worldwide. However, the adverse health consequences of the pandemic in terms of infection and mortality rates have varied across countries. In this study, we investigate whether COVID-19 mortality rates across a group of developed nations are associated with characteristics of their healthcare systems, beyond the differential policy responses in those countries. Methods: To achieve the study objective, we distinguished healthcare systems based on the extent of healthcare decommodification. Using available daily data from 2020, 2021, and 2022, we applied quantile regression with non-additive fixed effects to estimate mortality rates across quantiles. Our analysis began prior to vaccine development (in 2020) and continued after the vaccines were introduced (throughout 2021 and part of 2022). Results: The findings indicate that higher testing rates, coupled with more stringent containment and public health measures, had a significant negative impact on the death rate in both pre-vaccination and post-vaccination models. The data from the post-vaccination model demonstrate that higher vaccination rates were associated with significant decreases in fatalities. Additionally, our research indicates that countries with healthcare systems characterized by high and medium levels of decommodification experienced lower mortality rates than those with healthcare systems involving low decommodification. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that stronger public health infrastructure and more inclusive social protections have mitigated the severity of the pandemic's adverse health impacts, more so than emergency containment measures and social restrictions.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제53권5호
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• pp.629-633
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• 2010

Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory tract disease caused by $Bordetella$ $pertussis$ infection. The clinical manifestation of this infection can be severe enough to cause death. Although pertussis has been supposed to be a vaccine-preventable disease ever since the widespread vaccination of children against pertussis was started, since the 1990s, cases of pertussis and related fatalities are on the rise, especially in countries with high vaccination coverage. In Korea, there have been no deaths due to pertussis since 1990, and the vaccination rate continues to be approximately 94%. However, the number of pertussis cases reported to the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention has tended to increase in the 2000s, and in 2009, there was an obvious increase in the number of pertussis cases reported. This review aims to present the latest information about the pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of pertussis.

• 지역사회간호학회지
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• 제32권2호
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• pp.195-204
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was to determine how attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) were related to parents' intentions to vaccinate their sons in elementary school against human papillomavirus (HPV), applying the updated theory of planned behavior. Two hypotheses were examined: PBC would moderate the relationship of attitude to intention and subjective norm to intention, respectively. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with 231 participants recruited in November, 2018. Inclusion criteria for the participants were parents with 5th-6th grade boys in elementary schools. The moderation effects of the hypotheses were analyzed using the PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results: PBC significantly moderated the relationship of attitude to intention on HPV vaccination. The simple effect of attitude to intention was significant under three different levels of the PBC (low, moderate, and high), but the magnitudes of the relationships were not homogeneous. The magnitude of the relationship between attitude and intention was the lowest for the parents with the low level of the PBC. In the relationship of subjective norm to intention on HPV vaccination, the moderating effect of the PBC was not supported. Subjective norm and PBC directly predicted the intention on HPV vaccination. Conclusion: In order to promote the parents' intentions to vaccinate their sons in elementary school against HPV, we need a program that can improve parents' attitude, subjective norm, and PBC, requiring special attention to the parents with the low PBC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권9호
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• pp.4267-4272
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• 2012

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the opinions of Turkish adolesecent girls and their parents about HPV vaccination and the consistency. Methods: This descriptive study covered 301 girls and their parents. Questionnares were developed by the researchers based on findings within the literature and applied for data collection. Results: The mean age was 19.4 for girls, 44.2 for mothers and 47.9 for fathers. It was found that 43.5 percent of girls and 31.9 percent of mothers wish to be vaccinated against HPV. Also, 45.5 percent of mothers and 44.9 percent of fathers wish for their daughters to be vaccinated against HPV. A moderate consistency was found between mothers and fathers; a low consistency was found between fathers and girls, and between mothers and girls. Conclusions: The study indicates that an appropriate background has been partially provided about the acceptability of the vaccine between parents and their daughters in Turkey. However, the vast majority of adolescent girls and parents are indecisive or reluctant about HPV vaccination. This study also showed that the decisions of adolescents about vaccination may be affected by the opinions of the parents.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.109-116
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• 2010

Objectives: The pandemic of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus has required decision-makers to act in the face of the substantial uncertainties. In this study, we evaluated the potential impact of the pandemic response strategies in the Republic of Korea using a mathematical model. Methods: We developed a deterministic model of a pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in a structured population using the demographic data from the Korean population and the epidemiological feature of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009. To estimate the parameter values for the deterministic model, we used the available data from the previous studies on pandemic influenza. The pandemic response strategies of the Republic of Korea for novel influenza A (H1N1) virus such as school closure, mass vaccination (70% of population in 30 days), and a policy for anti-viral drug (treatment or prophylaxis) were applied to the deterministic model. Results: The effect of two-week school closure on the attack rate was low regardless of the timing of the intervention. The earlier vaccination showed the effect of greater delays in reaching the peak of outbreaks. When it was no vaccination, vaccination at initiation of outbreak, vaccination 90 days after the initiation of outbreak and vaccination at the epidemic peak point, the total number of clinical cases for 400 days were 20.8 million, 4.4 million, 4.7 million and 12.6 million, respectively. The pandemic response strategies of the Republic of Korea delayed the peak of outbreaks (about 40 days) and decreased the number of cumulative clinical cases (8 million). Conclusions: Rapid vaccination was the most important factor to control the spread of pandemic influenza, and the response strategies of the Republic of Korea were shown to delay the spread of pandemic influenza in this deterministic model.

• 한국콘텐츠학회논문지
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• 제14권8호
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• pp.307-318
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• 2014

본 연구는 계획된 행위이론을 적용하여 여중생 딸을 둔 어머니의 HPV(human papillomavirus) 백신 접종 의도를 파악하고, 관련 요인을 알아보기 위함이며, G광역시에 소재한 여중학교 4개교의 어머니 198명을 대상으로 하였다. 연구 도구로 HPV 백신 접종에 대한 태도, 주관적 규범, 지각된 행위 통제는 Askelson 등이 개발한 도구를 사용하였으며 자료 수집 기간은 2012년 9월 17일부터 24일까지였고, 수집된 자료는 SPSS 18.0 Program을 사용하였다. 본 연구 결과 여중생 어머니들의 HPV 백신 접종 의도는 비교적 높았지만, 6개월 이내에 접종하겠다고 한 어머니는 29.8% 뿐이었고, 어머니들이 생각하는 HPV 백신 최적 접종 연령이 평균 17.74세였다. 대상자의 HPV 백신 접종 의도는 태도, 지각된 행위 통제, 주관적 규범과 통계적으로 유의한 상관관계가 있었고, HPV 백신 접종에 대한 태도, 주관적 규범, 지각된 행위 통제가 접종의도의 중요한 영향 요인임이 확인되었으며, 대상자의 HPV 백신 접종 의도를 84.3%를 설명하였다. 그러므로 어머니들이 HPV 백신 접종에 대해 긍정적으로 생각하고, 백신 접종을 쉽고, 용이하게 지각하도록 격려하는 홍보 및 사회적 분위기 조성이 필요하리라 사료된다.

• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.249-259
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• 2023

Purpose: Since patients on hemodialysis (HD) are known to be vulnerable to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many studies were conducted regarding the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in HD patients in Western countries. Here, we assessed antibody response of HD patients for 6 months post-vaccination to identify the duration and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Asian population. Materials and Methods: We compared antibody response of the COVID-19 vaccine in HD patients with healthy volunteers. Patient and control groups had two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and mRNA-1273, respectively. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) was measured before vaccination, 2 weeks after the first dose, 2 and 4 weeks, 3 and 6 months after the second dose. Neutralizing antibody was measured before vaccination and at 2 weeks, 3 and 6 months after second dose. Since the third dose was started in the middle of the study, we analyzed the effect of the third dose as well. Results: Although antibody production was weaker than the control group (n=22), the patient group (n=39) showed an increase in IgG and neutralizing antibody after two doses. And, 21/39 patients and 14/22 participants had a third dose (BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 in the patient group, mRNA-1273 in the control group), and it did not affect antibody response in both group. Trend analysis showed IgG and neutralizing antibody did not decrease over time. Age, sex, and HD vintage did not affect antibody production in HD patients. Patients with higher body mass index displayed better seroresponse, while those on immunosuppressants showed poor seroresponse. Conclusion: Two doses of vaccination led to significant antibody response in HD patients, and the antibody did not wane until 6 months.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권8호
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• pp.4865-4869
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• 2013

Background: The objectives of this present study were to assess the awareness of cervical cancer and its risk factors among female undergraduates in South Africa, and to determine the their level of acceptability of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2013 among 440 full time undergraduate female students. Results: Of those students who never had sex (n=163), 96 (58.9%) had ever heard of cervical cancer and only 12 students (12.5%) knew that HPV causes cervical cancer. More than a third (35.4%) of the students correctly said that sexual intercourse before age of 18 years is a risk factor for cervical cancer and 55.2% of the students knew about the Pap smear test which is used for screening cervical cancer. The majority (77.3%) were willing to accept HPV vaccination. Results revealed that students who knew about the Pap smear test, and were aware that having multiple sex partners, sexual intercourse before the age of 18 years, smoking and having contracted any STDs are risk factors for cervical cancer were more likely to accept HPV vaccination compared to other groups. Conclusions: The general knowledge of South African female university students about cervical cancer is not sufficient but they have positive attitudes toward getting vaccinated with the HPV vaccine.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제27권10호
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• pp.1499-1512
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• 2014

The purposes of this study are to assess pig farmers' preference for highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) vaccine, and estimate the cost and benefit of PRRS vaccination in Vietnam. This study employed an integrated epidemiological and economic analysis which combined susceptible-infectious-recovered (SIR) model, choice experiment (CE) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA) together. The result of SIR model showed the basic reproduction number ($R_0$) of PRRS transmission in this study is 1.3, consequently, the optimal vaccination percentage is 26%. The results of CE in this study indicate that Vietnam pig farmers are showing a high preference for the PRRS vaccine. However, their mean willingness to pay is lower than the potential cost of PRRS vaccine. It can be considered to be one of the reasons that the PRRS vaccination ratio is still low in Vietnam. The results of CBA specified from the whole society's point of view (Social perspective), the benefits of PRRS vaccination are 2.3 to 4.5 times larger than the costs. To support policy making for increasing the PRRS vaccination proportion, this study indicates two ways to increase the vaccination proportion: i) decrease vaccine price by providing a subsidy, ii) provide compensation of culling only for PRRS vaccinated pigs.