• Journal of Urban Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.13-20
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• 2020

The Recently, several countries have been affected by respiratory diseases, resulting in renewed research interest in their prevention and control. One such example was the 2015 outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in South Korea and COVID-19. In this study, we performed experiments and simulations based on concentration decay using CO2 as the tracer gas to elucidate the pollutant-removal efficiency for different inlet and exhaust locations and outdoor air-supply ratios. The wall inlet exhibited a higher pollutant-removal efficiency, owing to the upward movement of the air from the lower zone to the upper one. In conclusion, it is recommended that a total air-conditioning plan for isolation rooms be established as well as efficient system operation for pollutant removal and air-flow control to prevent the transmission of infections from the patients to others.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.149-157
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• 2017

MERS outbreak in Korea was related to healthcare-associated infections. The number of healthcare workers infected with MERS were 39, of which 15 were nurses. We investigated knowledge, attitudes and preventive behaviors against MERS in nursing students who will serve as future nurses. This is a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire survey. Data were collected from 350 nursing students from April to May 2016. As a result, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between attitudes and prevention behaviors against MERS. (r=.387, p <.001). The effect of knowledge and attitudes on preventive behaviors against MERS was analyzed by 15.2% of the explanatory power of regression model and statistically significant by regression equation (F = 31.081, p <.001). This study suggests that nursing students need convergence educational programs to improve their attitudes and preventive behaviors against infectious diseases such as MERS.

• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.397-402
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• 2019

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) uses the spike (S) glycoprotein to recognize and enter target cells. In this study, we selected two epitope peptide sequences within the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the MERS-CoV S protein. We used a complex consisting of the epitope peptide of the MERS-CoV S protein and CpG-DNA encapsulated in liposome complex to immunize mice, and produced the monoclonal antibodies 506-2G10G5 and 492-1G10E4E2. The western blotting data showed that both monoclonal antibodies detected the S protein and immunoprecipitated the native form of the S protein. Indirect immunofluorescence and confocal analysis suggested strong reactivity of the antibodies towards the S protein of MERS-CoV virus infected Vero cells. Furthermore, the 506-2G10G5 monoclonal antibody significantly reduced plaque formation in MERS-CoV infected Vero cells compared to normal mouse IgG and 492-1G10E4E2. Thus, we successfully produced a monoclonal antibody directed against the RBD domain of the S protein which could be used in the development of diagnostics and therapeutic applications in the future.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.330-340
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• 2016

Objective: The outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) started in South Korea in May 2015 and the end of crisis was declared in December 2015 by Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). However, Zika virus emerged in less than 2 months following MERS and showed higher mortality than other countries. This study is to assess the current prevention system of overseas infectious diseases, based on MERS and Zika virus outbreak and to suggest effective response system for the future. Methods: We conducted two surveys on medical specialists working at tertiary general hospitals regarding the effectiveness of responding system by KCDC against MERS and Zika virus and education in individual medical institutions using 5-Likert points. Response system was examined in three different periods as initial period, spreading period, and post disease period. Results: Although medical specialists received the notifications in initial period, no practical prevention was proven to be placed in responding stage by medical facilities (averagely 3.5/5 points in total and sub-analyses). During spreading period, there were several academic seminars conducted, which were evaluated as helpful. In post disease period, all answered that there were changes on patient treatment in all medical facilities, with mainly report system and the treatment regulations in case of suspicious patients for infection. Only 49% respondents answered positive on the possibility of initial responses. For questionnaire items regarding Zika virus, all answered that there were notifications prior to the first outbreak of the infected patient. Eighty% of respondents were aware of 'the Guideline system for traveling to dangerous areas', and answered that the system was moderately effective (averagely 3.8/5 points in total). For the effectiveness of prevention measures for foreign novel disease by KCDC, the average point was 3.0 in both of total and sub-analyses. Conclusion: There is not enough response system to prevent infectious disease in medical institutional and governmental levels in Korea. It would warrant the modification of overall medical system to improve preventive measures for initial spread of such diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.599-607
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• 2016

The first patient of Middle East respiratory syndrome caused by a novel coronavirus infection in Korea was confirmed on May 20, 2015. After that, MERS spread over the country. In recent years, patients of MERS have been found around the Arabian Peninsula and the case fatality ratio of MERS in those area was been reported to range from 30 to 40%. In this paper, we estimate the case fatality ratio of MERS of Korea using data of 186 infections until December 1, 2015. In this study we propose a novel estimator of the case fatality ratio using information of the patients severity condition as well as records on the days of confirmation and death or recovery of the patient. By using publicly available data of the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control, we evaluate a performance of the estimator and demonstrate a stability of the estimator from the early stage of the epidemic.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.11.1-11.10
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• 2021

Coronavirus causes an infectious disease in various species and crosses the species barriers leading to the outbreak of zoonotic diseases. Due to the respiratory diseases are mainly caused in humans and viruses are replicated and excreted through the respiratory tract, the nasal fluid and sputum are mainly used for diagnosis. Early diagnosis of coronavirus plays an important role in preventing its spread and is essential for quarantine policies. For rapid decision and prompt triage of infected host, the immunochromatographic assay (ICA) has been widely used for point of care testing. However, when the ICA is applied to an expectorated sputum in which antigens are present, the viscosity of sputum interferes with the migration of the antigens on the test strip. To overcome this limitation, it is necessary to use a mucolytic agent without affecting the antigens. In this study, we combined known mucolytic agents to lower the viscosity of sputum and applied that to alpha and beta coronavirus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), respectively, spiked in sputum to find optimal pretreatment conditions. The pretreatment method using tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP) and BSA was suitable for ICA diagnosis of sputum samples spiked with PEDV and MERS-CoV. This sensitive assay for the detection of coronavirus in sputum provides an useful information for the diagnosis of pathogen in low respiratory tract.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.123-135
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• 2020

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the development process and the effectiveness of the EISS (epidemiological investigation support system), which prevents the spread of infectious diseases like a novel corona virus disease, COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach This study identified the existing epidemiological support system for MERS through prior research and studied the case of the development of a newly developed epidemiological support system based on cloud computing infrastructure for COVID-19 through inter-ministerial collaboration in 2020. Findings The outbreak of COVID-19 drove the Korean Government began the development of the EISS with private companies. This system played a significant role in flattening the spread of infection during several waves in which the number of confirmed cases increased rapidly in Korea, However, we need to be careful in handling confirmed patients' private data affecting their privacy.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.297-307
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• 2017

The epidemic model is used to model the spread of disease and to control the disease. In this research, we utilize SEIR model which is one of applications the SIR model that incorporates Exposed step to the model. The SEIR model assumes that a people in the susceptible contacted infected moves to the exposed period. After staying in the period, the infectee tends to sequentially proceed to the status of infected, recovered, and removed. This type of infection can be used for research in cases where there is a latency period after infectious disease. In this research, we collected respiratory infectious disease data for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERSCoV). Assuming that the spread of disease follows a stochastic process rather than a deterministic one, we utilized the Poisson process for the variation of infection and applied epidemic model to the stochastic chemical reaction model. Using observed pandemic data, we estimated three parameters in the SIER model; exposed rate, transmission rate, and recovery rate. After estimating the model, we applied the fitted model to the explanation of spread disease. Additionally, we include a process for generating the Exposed trajectory during the model estimation process due to the lack of the information of exact trajectory of Exposed.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.341-351
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate the medically inclined college students' knowledge, attitude, and compliance on the preventive behaviors of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). A cross-sectional study was conducted on 251 medically inclined college students in Jeonju Kijeon College from June 8 to 13, 2015, using a scale on the knowledge and attitude toward MERS and a structured questionnaire. The t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. The participants consisted of 46.6% college students majoring in dental hygiene, 30.7% in clinical pathology, and 22.7% in emergency rescue, and 69.7% of them had been educated on MERS prevention. This study revealed that students who received MERS prevention training (t=3.457, p=0.001) and female students (t=-2.945, p=0.005) had more knowledge on MERS, while students from the dental hygiene department (F=8.048, p<0.001) and those in their third year (F=3.978, p=0.020) showed a more positive attitude toward MERS. Regarding the correlation between knowledge, attitude, fear of infection and compliance on the preventive behaviors, students were more knowledgeable (r=0.133, p=0.036), presented a more positive attitude (r=0.158, p=0.012) and had more fear of infection (r=0.312, p<0.001), were more likely to comply with the preventive measures. For an effective prevention of MERS, a newly found infectious disease, we suggest that medically inclined college students must improve their knowledge of and have a positive attitude toward MERS infection management at a medical institution in compliance with the MERS infection preventive behaviors. Furthermore, this study shows that an infection management education program should be developed, so that which students could learn about the causes, dissemination routes, and preventive methods of infectious diseases, including the newly discovered ones, prior to their clinical training at a medical institution.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.150-166
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• 2016

In the aftermath of a recent outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), legal matters on the spread of epidemics have emerged as major social issues in Korea, with the awareness that rampant contagious diseases are disasters in society. Problems arose over damages arising from patients who contract infectious diseases, compensation for people under quarantine and for a partial, or entire, shutdown of hospitals, and information disclosure on infectious diseases. As epidemic-linked problems have never been socially disputed in Korea, the relevant legal issues appear to be studied comparatively less than other areas. As interests are heightened over legal issues on infectious illnesses amid the MERS scare, in-depth, further research on such legal issues should be conducted in an utmost effort to prevent and make preparations for epidemics which potentially become a social disaster, such as new Hong Kong flu, Ebola virus and Zika virus.