PHWR Public Health Weekly Report

Vol.14 No.48, November 25, 2021 Article TypeCOVID-19 Special ReportEpidemiology and SurveillanceNoncommunicable Disease StatisticsOriginal Articles

• COVID-19 Special Report 2021-11-25

  0 252 197

  July 2021 status and characteristics of the COVID-19 variant virus outbreak in the Republic of Korea

  Il-Hwan Kim, Ae Kyung Park, Hyeokjin Lee, Junyoung Kim, Dong Hyeok Kim, Jeong-Ah Kim, Jin Sun No, Chae young Lee, SangHee Woo, Jaehee Lee, Jee Eun Rhee, Eun-Jin Kim

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(48): 3388-3396

  

  

  Abstract

  Full Text Cite Share

  The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) variant viruses, which emerged at the end of 2020, are spreading all over the world. In particular, the Delta variant originating in India is rapidly transferring between countries, and the delta variant virus is also spreading in the Republic of Korea (ROK).
  The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has been conducting genomic surveillance to track and analyze the source of infection and identify genetic mutations of the COVID-19 virus. As a result of performing full-length genome sequencing and spike protein gene sequencing, etc. on positive samples of confirmed cases related to domestic infection and overseas imports, a total of 23,583 cases were analyzed by August 3, 2021, of which 8,125 variants of concern (VOC) (Delta 4,912, Alpha 3,045, Beta 148, Gamma 20) were confirmed. In the case of domestic infections, 563 Alpha variant cases (8.1% of detection rate) were confirmed in July 2021, showing a decreasing trend after May (738 cases, 27.4%). The Delta variant was first confirmed in April 2021, followed by 322 cases (10.7%) in June and 3,507 cases (50.3%) in July, confirming that the Delta variant is dominant with an increasing trend. A total of 715 variants of interest (VOI) were detected (Epsilon 652, Kappa 23, Iota 15, Eta 11, Theta 8, Zeta 6), but the number of cases decreased after April, and only one case each of the Eta and Theta were confirmed in July. This report was intended to provide the basis for patient management and the establishment of countermeasures to prevent the spread of variants by providing information on the surveillance and the characteristics of variants occurring domestically and overseas.

• Epidemiology and Surveillance 2021-11-25

  0 374 167

  Characteristics and Trends in Deaths from Tuberculosis in the Republic of Korea, 2001-2020

  Hyewon Lee, Jinsun Kim, HyeKyung In, Youmi Kim

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(48): 3400-3412

  

  

  Abstract

  Full Text Cite Share

  Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobaterium tuberculosis. TB is one of the top ten causes of death and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent in worldwide. TB is a preventable and curable disease yet there are millions of new TB cases and TB deaths per year in the world. In 2018, the first United Nations (UN) high-level meeting on TB was held and a resolution was passed to accelerate efforts to eradicate TB by 2030. The aim of this report was to review the characteristics of TB deaths in 2020 and to analyze TB death trends between 2001 to 2020.
  In 2010, the number of tuberculosis deaths in the Republic of Korea was 2,365 (4.7 per 100,000), but in 2020, it recorded 1,356 (2.6 per 100,000), a decrease of 42.7% from the previous year and 15.8% from the previous year. Also, 82.5% of the deaths from TB involved elderly patients aged 65 years or older and the TB mortality rate of the elderly was 13.8 per 100,000 population, with an reduction of 16.2% from the previous year (2019).
  The reason for this reduction in TB mortality is because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the KDCA’s policy measure so far(Private Public Mix policy, Elderly or Homeless TB screening etc) measure so far. The KDCA will continue to implement the policy measure to strengthen TB prevention management and to accelerate the UN’s goal of ending TB by 2030.

• Original Articles 2021-11-25

  0 212 287

  A Study on improving the health survey methodology of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

  Jeong Mi Lee, Ji-Hyun Yun, Bong Suk Lee, Kyungwon Oh, Sunhye Choi, Yang ha Kim

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(48): 3413-3421

  Abstract

  Full Text Cite Share

  The purpose of this study was to minimize the response burden of survey subjects and to improve the accuracy of survey results by identifying the possibility of converting the interview survey method currently applied in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) to the internet survey. The survey was conducted interview and internet with 726 people aged 19-59: 369 people participated in the internet survey and 357 people participated in the interview survey. Finding revealed a difference between the interview survey results and the internet survey results in terms of income, subjective health status, and cancer screening. On the other hand, there were no differences in the results of the two survey methods in the items of activity limitation, morbidity, hospitalization and outpatient utilization, vaccination, sleep health, and women's health. The results of the study showed that it is possible to maintain the existing interview methodology for items with differences in the results of the two survey methods, and to convert the items with no difference in the results of the two survey methods to an internet-based survey. Therefore, it is expected that the survey efficiency and the survey participation rate of the subjects can be improved by altering the survey method.

• Noncommunicable Disease Statistics 2021-11-25

  0 143 115

  Proportions and trends in Diabetes Awareness, Treatment, and Control in Korean Adults aged 30 years and over, 2013-2019

  Public Health Weekly Report 2021; 14(48): 3422-3423

  

  

  Full Text Cite Share