• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.635-639
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• 2010

The prevalence of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) in Korean indigenous calves with diarrhea in Gyeongbuk province was investigated. Seventy-five cases were identified as BVDV positive in the diarrhea stools. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all our cases were classified as BVDV-2a. Most of the present BVDV-2a cases were isolated from calves showing clinical signs of watery diarrhea. Our observations indicate that not all BVDV-2 infections cause clinically severe disease. This study shows the high incidence of BVDV-2 infection in Gyeongbuk province. Therefore, the results suggest that a vaccine development and immunization strategies are required for the effective control of BVDV infection in the Republic of Korea.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 2015

Purpose: Stool exams are a useful tool for the early presumptive diagnosis of infectious bacterial diarrhea in the Emergency Department (ED). CT scans are often used to increase the physician's level of certainty and to facilitate patient triage by identifying the source of pain in most patients with an acute abdomen in the ED. This study was designed to investigate the correlation between stool exams and abdominal CT in patients with acute diarrhea visiting the ED. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in the emergency department of a national university hospital from January 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. The subjects consisted of 156 patients with acute diarrhea and abdominal pain who had stool exam results and abdominal CT findings. We divided the patients into three groups according to the stool exam results. Simultaneously, we evaluated their CT findings of the bowel and adjacent structures. Results: A total of 156 patients were enrolled. Frequency of abnormal CT findings showed statistically significant correlation with stool exams (p-value <0.001). Abnormal CT findings increased as WBCs and RBCs in stool increased (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: The stool exam was a statistically significant predictive variable in indirectly determining the severity of acute diarrhea and it showed correlation with the frequency of abnormal CT findings. It is suggested that stool exams can be used as a susceptible marker for predicting the probability of severe infectious colitis, and for making an early decision regarding close medical attention.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.271-274
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• 2006

A 2-years-old female domesticated mouflon with a clinical history of chronic diarrhea and emaciation was submitted to NVRQS. Grossly, there were severe thickening of small intestine wall and enlargement of mesenteric lymph nodes. Microscopically, severe granulomatous inflammation was found in small and large intestine, mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen and liver. By Ziehl-Neelsen stain, innumerable acid-fast rod bacteria were found in the cytoplasm of epitheloid and Langhans type giant cells present in these organs. By PCR assay with primer pair specific for Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis(IS 900) with small intestine sample, strong positive reaction was detected, although the organism was not isolated from this organ. Based on the results of histopathology and PCR, we concluded that the case was a typical paratuberculosis in mouflon. As far as we know, this is the first case report of paratuberculosis in mouflon Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.17-20
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• 2019

A stray female cat of unknown age, presenting bright red watery diarrhea, was submitted to the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency for diagnosis. In the small intestines extracted from the necropsied cat, numerous white oval-shaped organisms were firmly embedded in the mucosa and there was thickening of intestinal wall. Histopathological analysis revealed severe necrotizing enteritis, together with atrophied intestinal villi, exfoliated enterocytes, and parasitic worms. Recovered worms were identified as Pharyngostomum cordatum by morphological observation and genetic analysis. Although P. cordatum is known to occur widely in Korea, this is the first clinical description of an infection by P. cordatum causing severe feline enteritis.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.147-153
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• 2021

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) with unknown etiopathogenesis. This case report details remission of UC induced by Korean herbal medicine treatment. A 31-year-old male patient diagnosed as UC after a series of examinations including endoscopy and fecal calprotectin (FC) test. He had severe bloody diarrhea over 10-20 times a day despite taking 5-aminosalicylic acid and steroid. He was given individualized Korean herbal medicine Dowha-tang according to pattern identification. After taking Dowha-tang for 7 months, clinical remission was achieved. The symptoms disappeared and FC level went down to normal level. No adverse events were reported. This case report shows that Korean herbal medicine treatment may have the potential for clinical remission of UC. Further investigation is warranted.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.346-356
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• 2021

Purpose: Campylobacter species are currently the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis. In Lebanon, Campylobacter infection occurrence is underdiagnosed owing to the lack of specific culture and rapid test kits, particularly among children. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, laboratory findings, and clinical characteristics of Campylobacter infection in hospitalized children with acute gastroenteritis in South Lebanon. Methods: We conducted a 6-month retrospective cohort study between January and June 2018, including 291 children aged between 1 month and 12 years, who were admitted to a tertiary healthcare center in South Lebanon. The medical files of the patients were reviewed to retrieve the required clinical information, including clinical and laboratory data. Results: The prevalence of campylobacteriosis agents in pediatric patients with acute gastroenteritis is 12.02%. Patients infected with Campylobacter had more severe acute gastroenteritis than Campylobacter-negative patients and often presented with high-grade fever, diarrhea episodes more than six times per day, diarrhea lasting for more than five days, and dehydration. Indeed, children with high-grade fever (≥38.5℃) were five times more likely to test positive for Campylobacter than those with low-grade fever. In addition, the results showed a higher Vesikari score for the majority of Campylobacter-positive patients with severe acute gastroenteritis compared to a moderate profile for Campylobacter-negative patients. Conclusion: The present study findings highlight that Campylobacter infection is frequent among children with acute gastroenteritis. Therefore, the detection of Campylobacter should be carried out for the diagnosis of human gastroenteritis in Lebanon, along with the detection of routine enteropathogens.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.30.1-30.11
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• 2021

From April 2014 to September 2015, 153 piglets from 52 farms in Jeju were diagnosed with porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). The major PED cases were focused on suckling piglets (144 piglets, 94.1%), particularly in 1-7-day-old piglets. Histopathologically, severe villous atrophy was observed in the small intestine, especially in the jejunum and ileum. The mean villous height to crypt depth ratios of the jejunum and ileum were 1.4:1 and 1.5:1, respectively. The major histopathologic findings of the small intestine were cytoplasmic vacuolation, cuboidalization, squamation, and exfoliation of the mucosal enterocytes in the villi. The cytoplasmic vacuolations in the enterocytes were the most prevalent lesions in the small intestine and were more severe in the ileum than in the jejunum. According to immunohistochemistry methods, the PED virus (PEDV) antigens were presented in the cytoplasms of the enterocytes, and were distributed more prevalently in the ileum than in the jejunum. PEDV antigens were also detected in the colon of 26 piglets (19.5%). Sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis indicated that 12 PEDV had more than a 98.9% homology with each other. These PEDV strains were highly homologous with the genogroup 2 North American group.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.150-154
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• 2003

A disease with severe diarrhea occurred in a herd of one thousand, 1-week-old piglets in Chinju, Korea, and was diagnosed as porcine epidemic diarrhea by the detection of N gene of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) from small intestines. A PEDV, named as Chinju99, was also isolated from the intestines after two blind-passages in Vero cells supplemented with trypsin (10 ug/ml). and the biological and physicochemical properties of the isolate were characterized. The virion was roughly spherical in shape and had spike peplomers on its outer surface. The virus exhibited cytopathic effects such as rounding degeneration at initiation of infection and syncytia formation later in Vero cells. The virus was labile to 20% ether and 5% chloroform but stable in acid with pH 4-7 at $4^{\circ}C$. The infectivity of the virus was maintained at $50^{\circ}C$ for 180 min, and the buoyant density of the virus in sucrose was 1.180 g/ml. All biological and physicochemical properties of the virus were typical features of coronaviruses.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Pathology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.35-44
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• 1999

The morphologic changes of small intestinal epithelium in pigs diagnosed as porcine epidemic diarrhea(PED} by virus isolation and immunohistochemistry were studied through light microscope and transmissible electron microscope. On semi-thin section, the histologic findings showed severe villous atrophy and fusion with hyperplasia of cuboidal epithelium in the villi, inflammatory cell infiltration in lamina propria, and increased mitotic figures in the crypt. The structural changes were mostly restricted to the cytoplasm of affected absorptive epithelium of villi. 3 types of epithelial changes were found; degenerated virus-affected cells, undifferentiated cuboidal cells, and normal columnar cells. On electron microscopy, round to spherical viral particles of 50∼l00nm in diameter were found within the dilated vesicles and endoplasmic reticulums of degenerated cells, which had decreased their cytoplasmic electron density due to dilated and missing organelles(e.g. mitochondria, ERs, etc.). Microvilli were shortened and sparse, leaving denuded terminal web of the villous epithelial cells. Fat globules were often found within slightly degenerated enterocytes. On the tip of villi, severely damaged cells were exfoliated and replaced by undifferentiated cuboidal cells We found distinct ultrastructural changes in the jejunal epithelium confirming PED virus infection is involved in malabsorptive diarrhea.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.441-452
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• 2022

Congenital diarrheal disorders (CDDs) with genetic etiology are uncommon hereditary intestinal diseases characterized by chronic, life-threatening, intractable watery diarrhea that starts in infancy. CDDs can be mechanistically divided into osmotic and secretory diarrhea. Congenital tufting enteropathy (CTE), also known as intestinal epithelial dysplasia, is a type of secretory CDD. CTE is a rare autosomal recessive enteropathy that presents with intractable neonatal-onset diarrhea, intestinal failure, severe malnutrition, and parenteral nutrition dependence. Villous atrophy of the intestinal epithelium, crypt hyperplasia, and irregularity of surface enterocytes are the specific pathological findings of CTE. The small intestine and occasionally the colonic mucosa include focal epithelial tufts. In 2008, Sivagnanam et al. discovered that mutations in the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM, MIM# 185535) were the genetic cause of CTE (MIM# 613217). More than a hundred mutations have been reported to date. Furthermore, mutations in the serine peptidase inhibitor Kunitz type 2 (SPINT2, MIM# 605124) have been linked to syndromic CTE. In this study, we report the case of a 17-month-old male infant with congenital diarrhea. Despite extensive etiological workup, no etiology could be established before admission to our center. The patient died 15 hours after being admitted to our center in a metabolically decompensated state, probably due to a delay in admission and diagnosis. Molecular autopsy with exome sequencing revealed a previously reported homozygous missense variant, c.757G>A, in EpCAM, which was confirmed by histopathological examination.