• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.63-66
• /
• 1998

The first case of tick bite by Ixones persulcatus in Korea is reported. The lick was found on the skin of right lower axilla region of a 60-year-old woman.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.313-324
• /
• 2018

This article reviews Leptotrombidium deliense, including its discovery and nomenclature, morphological features and identification, life cycle, ecology, relationship with diseases, chromosomes and artificial cultivation. The first record of L. deliense was early in 1922 by Walch. Under the genus Leptotrombidium, there are many sibling species similar to L. deliense, which makes it difficult to differentiate L. deliense from another sibling chigger mites, for example, L. rubellum. The life cycle of the mite (L. deliense) includes 7 stages: egg, deutovum (or prelarva), larva, nymphochrysalis, nymph, imagochrysalis and adult. The mite has a wide geographical distribution with low host specificity, and it often appears in different regions and habitats and on many species of hosts. As a vector species of chigger mite, L. deliense is of great importance in transmitting scrub typhus (tsutsugamushi disease) in many parts of the world, especially in tropical regions of Southeast Asia. The seasonal fluctuation of the mite population varies in different geographical regions. The mite has been successfully cultured in the laboratory, facilitating research on its chromosomes, biochemistry and molecular biology.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.719-725
• /
• 2004

Mesquite or Vilayati babul (Prosopis juliflora) is a drought resistant, evergreen, spiny tree with drooping branches and a deep laterally spreading root system. It grows in semi-arid and arid tracts of tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world and is spreading because the leaves are unpalatable and animals do not digest its seed. The mesquite has become a major nuisance; cutting or pruning its branches to form a canopy would provide shade for travelers, aid harvesting of pods, as well as make available wood for fuel. An average plant starts fruiting by 3-4 years of age and yields annually 10-50 kg pods/ tree, which can be collected from May-June and September-October. Availability of pods worldwide is estimated to be about 2-4 million metric tonnes. Ripe pods are highly palatable; on dry matter basis they contain 12% crude protein, 15% free sugar, a moderate level of digestible crude protein (7% DCP) with a high level of energy (75% TDN). The pods contain low tannin levels below those toxic to animals. Seeds contain 31-37% protein; pods should be finely ground before feeding to facilitate utilization of the seeds. Mesquite pods could replace costlier feed ingredients such as grain and bran contributing 10-50% of the diet. Phosphorus supplements need to be added when mesquite pod, exceeds 20% of animals' diet.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.525-532
• /
• 2008

This study has examined influences of tropical cyclone (TC) landfalls on the Gyoengsangbuk-do region, located in southeast of Korea, for the period 1978-2006. This region is known as one of major pass ways of landfalling TCs, and has many cultural properties including Bulguksa, Sukgulam, etc. Thus the influences caused by TCs (i.e., TC damages) may be larger than elsewhere in the nation. Here, TC influence is defined as the cases of strong instantaneous wind speed (${\geq}20ms^{-1}$) and heavy rainfall (${\geq}100mmday^{-1}$) at each station. This study analyzed long-term trends ofTC influences and the relationship with TC tracks are examined. As a result, it is found that large increase of the heavy rainfall cases along the coastal region. By contrast, there are marginal changes in the strong wind speed associated with TC landfalls. Further, it is also found that the cases of the heavy rainfall only are related with TCs passing through the Yellow Sea and the cases of both the strong wind and the heavy rainfall are related with TCs landing from southern Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.33-42
• /
• 2018

The tropical peatlands have been deforested and converted to agricultural and plantation areas in Indonesia. To manage water levels and increase the overall productivity of crops, canals have been constructed in tropical peatlands. The canals destructed the structure of the tropical peatlands, and increased the subsidence and fire hazard risks in the region. The Indonesian government enacted regulations and a moratorium on tropical peatlands, in order to reduce degradation. A practical method under the regulations of rewetting tropical peatlands was to permit a canal blocking. In this study, four canal blocking projects were investigated regarding their planning, construction priority, design, building material, construction, monitoring, time and costs associated with the canal blockings. In the protected areas, regulations restricted the development of the tropical peatlands areas that were noted as deeper than 3 m, and the administration stopped issuing new concessions for future work projects for this noted criteria of land use. A noted purpose of canal blockings in these areas was to effectuate the restoration of the lands in the region. The main considerations of the restoration efforts were to maintain a durability of the blockings, and to encourage the participation of the area stakeholders. In the case of a concession area, regulations were set into place to restrict clear-cutting and shifting cultivation, and to maintain groundwater level in the tropical peatland. The most significant priorities identified in the canal blocking project were the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the project. Nevertheless, the drainage of tropical peatlands has been continued. On the basis of a literature review on regulations and rewetting methods in tropical peatlands of Indonesia, we discussed the improvements of the regulations, and adequate canal blockings to serve the function to rewet the tropical peatlands in Indonesia. Our results would help establishing an adequate direction and recommended guideline on viable rewetting methods for the restoration of drained tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.465-474
• /
• 2004

Due to the rapid increase of human population and economic development, the natural ecosystem has been severely degraded. To restore the degraded ecosystem is extremely urgent and an important task in China. High biodiversity status in the natural ecosystem in tropical and subtropical regions in China has given high attention to the conservationists. The recent trends to the ecological restoration on degraded ecosystem in the tropical and subtropical regions of China were discussed for four different ecological recovery types: watershed ecosystems, wetlands, mining wastelands and mountain forests. The successful restoration case studies in tropical and subtropical regions of China were also discussed.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.109-112
• /
• 2016

We performed a molecular genetic study on the sequences of 18S ribosomal RNA (ITS1 region) gene in 4-day-old adult worms of Macroorchis spinulosus recovered in mice experimentally infected with metacercariae from crayfish in Jeollanam-do Province, Korea. The metacercariae were round, $180{\mu}m$ in average diameter, encysted with 2 layers of thick walls, but the stylet on the oral sucker was not clearly seen. The adult flukes were oval shape, and $760-820{\mu}m$ long and $320-450{\mu}m$ wide, with anterolateral location of 2 large testes. The phylogenetic tree based on ITS1 sequences of 6 M. spinulosus samples showed their distinguished position from other trematode species in GenBank. The most closely resembled group was Paragonimus spp. which also take crayfish or crabs as the second intermediate host. The present study is the first molecular characterization of M. spinulosus and provided a basis for further phylogenetic studies to compare with other trematode fauna in Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.85-89
• /
• 2004

Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts were isolated from a child suffering from acute gastroenteritis and successfully passaged in a calf and mice (designated hereafter SNU-H1) in the Republic of Korea; its molecular genotype has been analyzed. The GAG microsatellite region was amplified by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), with a 238 base pair product, which is commonly displayed in C. parvum. The isolate was shown to be a mixture of the genotypes 1 (anthroponotic) and 2 (zoonotic). To study its infectivity in animals, 2 calves and 3 strains of mice were infected with the SNU-H1; in these animals, the propagation of both genotypes was successful. In immunosup-pressed (ImSP) BALB/c and C57BU6 mice the number of oocysts decreased after day 10 post-infection (PI); but in ImSP ICR mice, they remained constant until day 27 PI. The results show that both the C. parvum genotypes 1 and 2 can be propagated in calves and ImSP mice.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.135-139
• /
• 2015

A total of 1,708 small mammals (1,617 rodents and 91 soricomorphs), including Apodemus agrarius (n = 1,400), Microtus fortis (167), Crocidura lasiura (91), Mus musculus (32), Myodes (= Eothenomys) regulus (9), Micromys minutus (6), and Tscherskia (= Cricetulus) triton (3), were live-trapped at US/Republic of Korea (ROK) military training sites near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of Paju, Pocheon, and Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province from December 2004 to December 2009. Small mammals were examined for their intestinal nematodes by necropsy. A total of 1,617 rodents (100%) and 91 (100%) soricomorphs were infected with at least 1 nematode species, including Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, Syphacia obvelata, Heterakis spumosa, Protospirura muris, Capillaria spp., Trichuris muris, Rictularia affinis, and an unidentified species. N. brasiliensis was the most common species infecting small mammals (1,060; 62.1%) followed by H. polygyrus (617; 36.1%), S. obvelata (370; 21.7%), H. spumosa (314; 18.4%), P. muris (123; 7.2%), and Capillaria spp. (59; 3.5%). Low infection rates (0.1-0.8%) were observed for T. muris, R. affinis, and an unidentified species. The number of recovered worms was highest for N. brasiliensis (21,623 worms; mean 20.4 worms/infected specimen) followed by S. obvelata (9,235; 25.0 worms), H. polygyrus (4,122; 6.7 worms), and H. spumosa (1,160; 3.7 worms). A. agrarius demonstrated the highest prevalence for N. brasiliensis (70.9%), followed by M. minutus (50.0%), T. triton (33.3%), M. fortis (28.1%), M. musculus (15.6%), C. lasiura (13.2%), and M. regulus (0%). This is the first report of nematode infections in small mammals captured near the DMZ in ROK.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.58 no.6
• /
• pp.709-714
• /
• 2020

Knockdown resistance (kdr) mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) of mosquitoes confer resistance to insecticides. Although insecticide resistance has been suspected to be widespread in the natural population of Aedes aegypti in Myanmar, only limited information is currently available. The overall prevalence and distribution of kdr mutations was analyzed in Ae. aegypti from Mandalay areas, Myanmar. Sequence analysis of the VGSC in Ae. aegypti from Myanmar revealed amino acid mutations at 13 and 11 positions in domains II and III of VGSC, respectively. High frequencies of S989P (68.6%), V1016G (73.5%), and F1534C (40.1%) were found in domains II and III. T1520I was also found, but the frequency was low (8.1%). The frequency of S989P/V1016G was high (55.0%), and the frequencies of V1016G/F1534C and S989P/V1016G/F1534C were also high at 30.1% and 23.5%, respectively. Novel mutations in domain II (L963Q, M976I, V977A, M994T, L995F, V996M/A, D998N, V999A, N1013D, and F1020S) and domain III (K1514R, Y1523H, V1529A, F1534L, F1537S, V1546A, F1551S, G1581D, and K1584R) were also identified. These results collectively suggest that high frequencies of kdr mutations were identified in Myanmar Ae. aegypti, indicating a high level of insecticide resistance.