Trichinellosis is a parasitic zoonosis of public health importance. It is caused by Trichinella spiralis which has a wide host range including humans. In the present communication, the ELISA technique was employed on a total of 803 blood samples from 7 selected pig breeding farms in 1996 for diagnosis and surveillance of trichinellosis. Out of the entire 803 samples, nine were found to be suspected while one was positive by ELISA. But western blot analyses employed for further confirmation have shown that all of 10 samples did not react to larval excretory-secretory product antigens. These results indicate that pig breeding farms included in the present study are free from trichinellosis. However, it does not mean Korea is free from trichinellosis since human trichinellosis has recently been reported. The necessity of continued surveillance for trichinellosis in both pigs and wild animals was discussed.
Animals ; *Animals, Domestic ; Antibodies, Helminth/*blood ; Biological Markers/blood ; Blotting, Western ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Human ; Korea/epidemiology ; Swine ; Swine Diseases/*diagnosis/epidemiology ; Trichinella spiralis/*immunology ; Trichinosis/*diagnosis/epidemiology/*veterinary

The seroepidemiologic studies on anti-Toxoplasma antibody titers were carried out using ELISA and indirect latex agglutination test. Among 899 sera prepared from pregnant women, 39 cases (4.3%) revealed positive reaction and 218 sera from middle school students showed 4 positive reaction (1.8%) by ELISA. By LAT(newly established by National Veterinary Research Institute, Korea), the sera of 7 pregnant women (0.8%) showed positive reaction. When 80 sera showing +S1:8 by LAT were used for comparing the results obtained from LAT and Toxotest-MT (Eiken Chemical Co., Japan), 7 cases and 8 sera were positive, respectively. All of 11 sera of proven toxoplasmosis patients showed positive reaction in both tests. Overall proportion of agreement between LAT kit and Toxotest-MT was 0.94( -index= 0.632, p<0.01), and LAT was considered to be useful for the screening of toxoplasmosis.
parasitology-protozoa ; Toxoplasma gondii ; indirect latex agglutination test ; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ; pregnant women

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) causes a highly contagious and immunosuppressive disease of chicken. Agar gel immunodiffusion using IBDV antigen extracted from bursa of Fabricius of infected chicken has been used officially for diagnosis of IBDV in Korea. In this study, in order to replace the IBDV whole virus antigen with non-infectious antigen, recombinant VP2 protein (rVP2) of IBDV was produced using recombinant baculovirus expression system. Purified baculovirus-expressed rVP2 was used as an antigen in an agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID). rVP2 antigen precipitated specifically IBDV antibodies. AGID using rVP2 antigen detected anti-IBDV antibodies from 6 dpi to 28 dpi (termination of the experiment) when specific pathogen free chickens were experimentally infected with IBDV 52/70 strain. This was consistent with result by AGID using IBDV antigen, virus neutralization test (VNT) and a commercial ELISA kit (except for one serum). The sensitivity of rVP2 was the same with that of IBDV antigen when field sera (n=324) were tested by AGID. However, AGID using rVP2 antigen detected maternal antibodies from broiler chickens (n=20) on a broiler farm up to 15 days old, although the detection rate of the AGID was relatively low compared to a commercial ELISA kit. Our results indicate that IBDV whole virus antigen from IBDV infected chickens would be replaced with recombinant VP2 protein as an antigen for AGID.
Agar ; Animals ; Antibodies ; Baculoviridae ; Bursa of Fabricius ; Chickens ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Immunodiffusion ; Infectious bursal disease virus ; Korea ; Neutralization Tests ; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms ; Sprains and Strains ; Staphylococcal Protein A ; Viruses

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is responsible for a highly contagious disease of poultry causing severe immunosuppression in chickens. A double antibody sandwich ELISA (DAS-ELISA) was developed to detect IBDV from clinical samples. Two kinds of anti-IBDV antibodies, monoclonal antibody R63 and chicken anti-IBDV sera, were used for DAS-ELISA. Detection limit of IBDV by DAS-ELISA was approximately 10(2.7) EID(50)/ml. The DAS-ELISA detected IBDV from most (13/14) of vaccine products including mild, intermediate and intermediate-plus types. The DAS-ELISA also detected IBDV from all (19/19) of field Korean isolates including very virulent and intermediate-plus phenotypes. Our results indicate that the DAS-ELISA would provide useful diagnostic tool to detect IBDV from clinical samples as well as rapid quantitative detection of IBDV.
Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Chickens ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Immunosuppression ; Infectious bursal disease virus ; Limit of Detection ; Phenotype ; Poultry ; Viruses

BACKGROUND/AIMS: There are three types of PML-RAR alpha mRNA fusion transcripts associated with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL): the short (S)-form, the long (L)-form and the variable (V)-form. No study on the Korean population has addressed the clinical significance of the specific types of PML-RAR alpha mRNA fusion transcripts for APL patients who receive the combination therapy of all-trans-retinoic-acid and idarubicin (AIDA regimen). METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis on 94 patients with APL to evaluate differences in the therapeutic outcomes, such as the response rate, an event-free survival (EFS), and overall survival (OS), after remission following the induction of chemotherapy. We also analyzed whether differences in the pretreatment clinical characteristics depend on the PML-RAR alpha isoform. RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 41 years (range 15-85). Among the 94 patients, there were 58 L-form cases (62.1%), 32 S-form cases (34.0%), and 4 V-form cases (4.3%). The CR rate following remission induction treatment was 84.9%. The CR rate was higher in patients with an initial WBC <10.0x109/L, as compared to patients with an initial WBC higher than 10.0X109/L (93.5% vs. 65.4%, p=0.001). The AIDA induction regimen was associated with a better EFS than non-AIDA induction regimens (81.9% vs. 49.6%, p=0.006). The induction group was also a significant prognostic factor for EFS in the multivariate analysis (p=0.020). There were no differences in OS and EFS in patients with either isoform L or isoform S in the AIDA induction group. CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective study demonstrated that pretreatment clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes were not significantly different among patients with varying PML-RAR alpha isoform types in the AIDA induction group.
Disease-Free Survival ; Humans ; Idarubicin ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute ; Multivariate Analysis ; Protein Isoforms ; Remission Induction ; Retrospective Studies ; RNA, Messenger

Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in Korea and the world. Since 2004, this is the 4th gastric cancer guideline published in Korea which is the revised version of previous evidence-based approach in 2018. Current guideline is a collaborative work of the interdisciplinary working group including experts in the field of gastric surgery, gastroenterology, endoscopy, medical oncology, abdominal radiology, pathology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology and guideline development methodology. Total of 33 key questions were updated or proposed after a collaborative review by the working group and 40 statements were developed according to the systematic review using the MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library and KoreaMed database. The level of evidence and the grading of recommendations were categorized according to the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation proposition. Evidence level, benefit, harm, and clinical applicability was considered as the significant factors for recommendation. The working group reviewed recommendations and discussed for consensus. In the earlier part, general consideration discusses screening, diagnosis and staging of endoscopy, pathology, radiology, and nuclear medicine. Flowchart is depicted with statements which is supported by meta-analysis and references. Since clinical trial and systematic review was not suitable for postoperative oncologic and nutritional follow-up, working group agreed to conduct a nationwide survey investigating the clinical practice of all tertiary or general hospitals in Korea. The purpose of this survey was to provide baseline information on follow up. Herein we present a multidisciplinary-evidence based gastric cancer guideline.