Cheon Byung-chul

OBJECTIVES: The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from Wuhan, China is currently recognized as a public health emergency of global concern. METHODS: We reviewed the currently available literature to provide up-to-date guidance on control measures to be implemented by public health authorities. RESULTS: Some of the epidemiological characteristics of 2019-nCoV have been identified. However, there remain considerable uncertainties, which should be considered when providing guidance to public healt

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) causes characteristic blisters and sores mainly in infants and children, and has been monitored in South Korea through sentinel surveillance since 2009. We described the patterns of HFMD occurrence and analyzed the effect of climatic factors on national HFMD incidence. Weekly clinically diagnosed HFMD case rates (per 1,000 outpatients) in sentinel sites and weekly climatic factors, such as average temperature, relative humidity, duration of sunshine, precipit

Background: In March 2020, overall, 37,000 international students from China, a country at risk of the 2019-novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection has arrived in Seoul, South Korea. Individuals from the country at risk of COVID-19 infection have been included in the Korean home-quarantine program, but the efficacy of the program is uncertain. Methods: To estimate the possible number of infected individuals within the large influx of international students from China, we used a deterministic comp

Influenza burden and activity decreased in 2020 in the Southern hemisphere. The temporal decline in influenza activity varied between countries.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been spreading all over the world; however, its incidence and case-fatality ratio differ greatly between countries and between continents. We investigated factors associated with international variation in COVID-19 incidence and case-fatality ratio (CFR) across 107 northern hemisphere countries, using publicly available COVID-19 outcome data as of 14 September 2020. We included country-specific geographic, demographic, socio-economic features, global health sec

Super-spreading events (SSE) have been reported for many infectious disease outbreaks such as measles [1], tuberculosis [2], Ebola [3], and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) [4,5,6]. The SARS outbreaks in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China in 2003 particularly made the importance of SSE evident in understanding transmission dynamics, predicting models, and containing outbreaks. However, the criteria of SSE and their effects on outbreak control measures are still unclear. Though there is an a

With the exception of vaccination coverage, the preventive behaviors of the high-risk group were not different from those of the non-high-risk group during the 2009-2010 pandemic. For future pandemic preparedness planning, it is crucial to reinforce preventive behaviors to avoid illness before vaccination and to increase vaccination coverage in the high-risk group.

Dengue fever has been endemic in Paraguay since 2009 and is a major cause of public-health-management-related burdens. However, Paraguay still lacks information on the association between climate factors and dengue fever. We aimed to investigate the association between climatic factors and dengue fever in Asuncion. Cumulative dengue cases from January 2014 to December 2020 were extracted weekly, and new cases and incidence rates of dengue fever were calculated. Climate factor data were aggregate

In a pandemic with emerging infectious diseases, strategies to reduce turnover among ICNs and ensure a sufficient workforce are crucial to reducing work intensity, considering the factors that affect job stress and burnout.

This study aimed to analyze the association between companion animal ownership, the sub-factors of this ownership (the species and number of owned pets), and overall life satisfaction (OLS). Data was obtained from the publicly available responses to the 2017 Seoul Survey, conducted among Seoul-based Korean locals aged ≥ 15 years (N = 42,687; pet owners = 8,708, non-owners = 33,979). Propensity score was calculated by performing logistic regressions with covariates and data was matched using the

The Republic of Korea declared measles elimination in 2006. However, a measles outbreak occurred in 2013. This study aimed to identify the epidemiological characteristics of the sources of infection and the pattern of measles transmission in 2013 in South Korea. We utilized surveillance data, epidemiological data, immunization registry data, and genetic information. We describe the epidemiological characteristics of all measles case patients (sex, age distribution, vaccination status, sources of

From 2003 to 2017, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) epidemics, particularly H5N1, H5N8, and H5N6 infections in poultry farms, increased in South Korea. More recently, these subtypes of HPAI virus resurged and spread nationwide, heavily impacting the entire poultry production and supply system. Most outbreaks in poultry holdings were concentrated in the southwestern part of the country, accounting for 58.3% of the total occurrences. This geographically persistent occurrence demanded the i

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the incidence and risk factors for progression from prehypertension to hypertension among middle-aged and elderly Korean adults. METHODS: A total of 115 456 participants with prehypertension in 2003-2004 were selected from the National Health Insurance Service-National Health Screening Cohort (NHIS-HEALS) Program. All participants were followed until 2015. Potential risk factors for progression to hypertension were evaluated using the chi-squared test or t-test.

Although hepatitis A is a major health problem worldwide, it has not yet been clarified whether or not viral factors affect the clinical characteristics. This study aimed to investigate if a genotype of hepatitis A virus (HAV) affects disease severity among adolescent and adult populations. Clinical data and specimens were collected from patients ≥16-years-of-age with acute hepatitis A at two university hospitals in Korea during the two study periods: 1998 and 1999 (n = 45), and 2009 (n = 66). N

Background: Concerns about alopecia areata (AA) in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients have emerged among dermatologists. However, most of the extant kinds of literature have limited implications by relying on cross-sectional studies with restricted study subjects without the control group. Objective: Our study aims to investigate the risk of developing AA among COVID-19 patients in South Korea using national representative data. Methods: We used the National Health Insurance Service CO