PHWR Public Health Weekly Report

Vol.14 No.46, November 11, 2021 Article TypeCOVID-19 Special ReportEpidemiology and SurveillanceNoncommunicable Disease StatisticsOriginal Articles

• COVID-19 Special Report 2021-11-11

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  Effect of virus variants on COVID-19 diagnosis in the Republic of Korea

  Deok Bum Park, Hyun Yeong Kim, Su Kyoung Jo, Hyun Jeong Lee, Jae Sun Park, Nam Joo Lee, Sang Hee Woo, Jeong-Min Kim, Gab Jung Kim

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(46): 3236-3239

  

  

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• Epidemiology and Surveillance 2021-11-11

  0 229 177

  Enteroviruses from acute flaccid paralysis surveillance in the Republic of Korea, 2012–2019

  Hae Ji Kang, Deog-young Lee, Myung-Guk Han

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(46): 3240-3250

  

  

  Abstract

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  Polio is a highly infectious disease that is both life-threatening and disabling. It spreads from person to person through contaminated water and food. It mainly affects children, and it attacks the spinal cord which often leads to paralysis. As of 2020, polio was eradicated in all continents except Asia. For the Republic of Korea (ROK), where polio has been eradicated, the risk of importation and re-emergence persists since polio outbreaks still occur in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The aim of this study was to analyze the results of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance in the ROK, to assess the quality of AFP surveillance and to understand the etiology of enterovirus-associated central nervous system diseases in a polio-free area. This study investigated 637 AFP patients under 15 years of age whose cases were confirmed by virus isolation, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and VP1 gene sequencing between 2012 and 2019. The AFP surveillance conducted between 2012-2019 in the ROK satisfied the targeted annual non-polio AFP rate of ≥1.0 and satisfied the adequate collection rate of stool specimens at > 80%.
  Among the 637 AFP cases, enterovirus was detected in 213 (33.4%) patients, with the majority observed in EV-A71, with 54.9% of non-polio enterovirus positives. EV-A71 has been shown to play a role as a major causative agent in most neurological diseases except for Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), and meningitis. This study provides information on the AFP surveillance situation in the ROK and highlights the polio eradication stage in the monitoring and characterization of enterovirus against the outbreak of neurological infectious diseases such as polio.

• Epidemiology and Surveillance 2021-11-11

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  Results of the 2021 heat-related illness surveillance

  Seongwoo Park, Sunmi Kim, Youngju Lee, JongHee Kim, Yuna Kim

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(46): 3251-3263

  

  

  Abstract

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  In 2011, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) launched a heat-related illness (HRI) surveillance system. Annually, a nationwide network of approximately 500 hospital emergency rooms (ERs) participate in the system during the summer, the hottest part of the year in Korea. From May 20 to September 30, 2021, the KCDA operated the HRI surveillance system to monitor heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat syncope, and heat edema. According to hospital reports, 1,376 people developed HRIs and 20 deaths were attributed to HRI in 2021. The number of heat wave days in the summer ( June to August) in 2021 was 11.8 days, an increase of 53.2% from 7.7 days in 2020. Due to these temperature characteristics, 59% of all patients with heat illness occurred in mid-July and late July. The report rate of heat related illness was 75.9% in male, which was higher than 24.1% in female. The most number of patients with heat-related illness reported were in their 50s (24.0%), followed by those in their 60s (17.8%) and 40s (15.6%). The most common places of occurrence were outdoor workplace (40.3%), followed by paddy fields (11.6%) and roadside area (10.0%). A total of 20 deaths reported in 2021 are estimated to be caused by heatstroke.

• Original Articles 2021-11-11

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  Genetic characterization of Clostridium botulinum isolated from the first case of infant botulism in the Republic of Korea

  Chi-Hwan Choi, Jun Ho Jeon, Eun-Sun Choi, Seong Wook Pyo, Gi-eun Rhie

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(46): 3264-3271

  

  

  Abstract

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  Botulism is a neuroparalytic disease caused by a neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum. This study aimed to genetically characterize C. botulinum strain isolated from the first case of infant botulism in the Republic of Korea (ROK) reported on June 17, 2019. We isolated C. botulinum strain CB-27 from a stool sample of the patient and analyzed the toxin types and toxin gene cluster compositions of the strain using a mouse bioassay, real-time PCR, and genome sequencing. Toxin gene cluster analysis showed that strain CB-27 possesses a C. botulinum neurotoxin type A harboring an unexpressed B gene. Although the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of toxin genes as well as the toxin gene cluster arrangements in strain CB-27 were identical to those of the known strain CDC_69094, the total nucleotide sequences of the toxin gene clusters of CB-27 differed from those of CDC_69094 by 0.47%, indicating genetic diversity of toxin gene clusters of CB-27 among other previously reported C. botulinum strains. To our knowledge, this is the first description of a C. botulinum strain with two separate toxin gene clusters in the ROK.

• Noncommunicable Disease Statistics 2021-11-11

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  Trends in prevalence of diabetes among Korean adults aged 30 years and over, 2011-2019

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(46): 3272-3273

  

  

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