Water-based cooling towers and their water supply at two hospitals in Johor were surveyed for the presence Legionella pneumophila. L. pneumophila were grown from 19 (76%) out of 25 collected water samples. One hospital cooling tower was contaminated with L. pneumophila serogroup 1.
cooling ; Legionella pneumophila ; Hospitals ; L ; Need for isolation

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine psychological characteristics of patients who visited psychiatric clinic for medical certificate for military service using MMPI-2-RF. We compared target group with general psychiatric patients with same age range. METHODS: A total of 165 male patients for medical certificate and 154 general psychiatric patients were collected from the Department of Psychiatry of three university hospitals. There were significant differences of age and educational level between two groups. We used independent t-test, ANCOVA, χ² test to examine differences between two groups. RESULTS: Medical certificate group scored higher on the validity scales, the Higher-Order(H-O) scales, the Restructured Clinical(RC) Scales, the Specific Problems(SP) Scales, and the Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) Scales. Especially, EID, RC7, HLP, SFD, SAV, SHY, DSF, and INTR-r showed significant differences between two groups on all three statistical tests. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that psychiatric patients who received psychological evaluation for military service have significantly higher emotional distress, helplessness, lower self-confidence, and lower quality of interpersonal relationships. And the difference of validity scales between two groups could be related with psychological burden of compulsory military service in the study sample which causes elevation on scales of infrequent responses. MMPI-2-RF would be helpful instrument to assess these emotional and psychological characteristics.
Affective Symptoms ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Male ; Military Personnel* ; Psychopathology ; Social Isolation ; Weights and Measures

The class 1 integron and complex gene cassettes among different species of clinical isolates in northern China were characterized in this study. 383 clinical isolates were obtained from northern China, and class 1 integrons containing gene cassettes widely distributed among gram negative clinical isolates was observed. We find that the class 1 integron showed positive correlation with multidrug resistance phenotype of gram negative bacteria. In addition, we find that isolates belonged to one species harbored different types of gene cassette arrays, while same types of gene cassette arrays were observed in different species of isolates. The diversity of gene cassette arrays among the isolates indicated the complexity of multidrug resistance in clinical isolates in northern China.
Bacteria ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; China ; Hospitals, Public ; Humans ; Integrons ; genetics

Disinfection ; Escherichia coli ; isolation & purification ; Hospitals ; Medical Waste ; Sewage ; Waste Products ; Water Microbiology

BACKGROUNDInvasive fungal infections have constituted an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. In this study, a surveillance project was conducted in three different intensive care units of two large tertiary hospitals in China.

METHODSA one-year surveillance project was conducted in two tertiary hospitals which located in northern China and southwest China respectively. Air, surfaces and tap water were sampled twice a month in a central intensive care unit, a bone marrow transplant unit, a neurosurgery intensive care unit and a live transplant department. Environmental conditions such as humidity, temperature and events taking place, for example the present of the visitors, healthcare staff and cleaning crew were also recorded at the time of sampling.

RESULTSThe air fungal load was 91.94 cfu/m(3) and 71.02 cfu/m(3) in the southwest China hospital and the northern China hospital respectively. The five most prevalent fungi collected from air and surfaces were Penicillium spp., Cladospcrium spp., Alternaria spp., Aspergillus spp. and Saccharomyces spp. in the southwest China hospital, meanwhile Penicillium spp., Fusarium spp., Aspergillus spp., Alternaria spp. and Cladospcrium spp. in the northern China hospital. The least contaminated department was intensive care units, and the heaviest contaminated department was neurosurgery intensive care unit. Seventy-three percent of all surfaces examined in the northern China hospital and eighty-six percent in the southwest China hospital yielded fungi. Fifty-four percent of water samples from the northern China hospital and forty-nine percent from the southwest China hospital yielded fungi.

CONCLUSIONSThese findings suggested that the fungus exist in the environment of the hospital including air, surface and water. Air and surface fungal load fluctuated over the year. Air fungal load was lower in winter and higher in summer and autumn, but seldom exceeded acceptable level. The higher values were created during May to August in the northern China hospital and May to June and September to October in the southwest China hospital. A correlation between air fungal load and humidity, as well as personnel was observed.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to measure fever prevalence and the effectiveness of a fever screening procedure in detecting febrile arrivals at an international airport in Korea. METHODS: Data were retrieved from arrivals' health declaration forms and questionnaires for febrile arrivals at an international airport collected by a national quarantine station during the year 2012. Self-reported health declaration forms were returned by 355,887 arrivals (61% of the total arrivals). Of these, 608 symptomatic arrivals (0.2%) including 6 febrile arrivals were analyzed. RESULTS: Fever prevalence at an international airport in Korea was 0.002%. Self-reported fever was significantly positively associated with tympanic temperature (p<0.001). The difference between the thermal camera temperature (36.83degreesC) and tympanic (or ear) temperature (38.14degreesC) was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The findings imply that a procedure for mass detection of fever such as self-reported questionnaires and thermal camera scanning may serve as an effective tool for detecting febrile arrivals at quarantine stations. Future research can benefit from looking at the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the entry screening system.
Airports* ; Body Temperature ; Fever* ; Hospitals, Isolation ; Korea ; Mass Screening* ; Prevalence ; Quarantine ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Foodborne illnesses and big outbreaks have been increased because of the widespread of lunch distribution at school, mass production of food products, and international food trades. It is important to find the origin of contamination by various pathogens in an early stage of the outbreaks for the disease control and prevention. For the purpose of construction of the early warning system, Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH) inaugurated PulseNet Korea in 2005. The organization of PulseNet Korea consists of KNIH as a center and the participating laboratories including Korea Food & Drug Administration (KFDA), National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Station (NVRQS), and regional Institutes of Health & Environment. PulseNet Korea has focused on training researchers from participating laboratories as well as playing an important role in PulseNet International. In this review, PulseNet Korea construction is introduced as a national early warning system for timely surveillance of foodborne diseases.
Academies and Institutes ; Disease Outbreaks ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Foodborne Diseases* ; Hospitals, Isolation ; Humans ; Korea* ; Lunch

Foodborne illnesses and big outbreaks have been increased because of the widespread of lunch distribution at school, mass production of food products, and international food trades. It is important to find the origin of contamination by various pathogens in an early stage of the outbreaks for the disease control and prevention. For the purpose of construction of the early warning system, Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH) inaugurated PulseNet Korea in 2005. The organization of PulseNet Korea consists of KNIH as a center and the participating laboratories including Korea Food & Drug Administration (KFDA), National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Station (NVRQS), and regional Institutes of Health & Environment. PulseNet Korea has focused on training researchers from participating laboratories as well as playing an important role in PulseNet International. In this review, PulseNet Korea construction is introduced as a national early warning system for timely surveillance of foodborne diseases.
Academies and Institutes ; Disease Outbreaks ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Foodborne Diseases* ; Hospitals, Isolation ; Humans ; Korea* ; Lunch

BACKGROUND: We utilized results from the ARTEMIS DISK Global Antifungal Surveillance Program to evaluate the species distribution and fluconazole and voriconazole susceptibilities of yeast isolates from clinical specimens in South Korea from 2001 to 2007. METHODS: Data were collected on 5,665 yeast isolates from all body sites at three locations. All investigators tested clinical yeast isolates using the CLSI M44-A disk diffusion method. Test plates were automatically read and results were recorded using the BIOMIC image analysis plate reader system (Giles Scientific, USA). Species, drug, zone diameter, susceptibility category, and quality control results were collected quarterly via e-mail for analysis. RESULTS: Candida albicans was the most common isolate, but a progressive increase in non-C. albicans Candida and noncandidal yeast species has been observed in recent years. The overall percentages of isolates in each category (susceptible, susceptible dose dependent, and resistant) were 98.8%, 0.5%, and 0.7% and 99.2%, 0.2%, and 0.6% for fluconazole and voriconazole, respectively. Candida of 3 species exhibited decreased susceptibility to fluconazole (<90% S) in the order of that seen with the resistant (R) species: C. krusei, C. guilliermondii, and C. glabrata. Emerging resistance to fluconazole or voriconazole was documented among isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans, Trichosporon spp., and Rhodotorula spp. CONCLUSIONS: The species distribution and antifungal susceptibilities of yeasts may differ according to specimen type, testing method, hospital, and geographic region. Therefore, further large-scaled, long-term surveillance studies are needed to isolate yeasts and to confirm the species distribution and antifungal susceptibilities of yeast isolates from clinical specimens in Korea.
Antifungal Agents/*pharmacology ; Candida/isolation & purification ; Cryptococcus neoformans/isolation & purification ; Disk Diffusion Antimicrobial Tests ; *Drug Resistance, Fungal ; Fluconazole/pharmacology ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Pyrimidines/pharmacology ; Republic of Korea ; Rhodotorula/isolation & purification ; Triazoles/pharmacology ; Trichosporon/isolation & purification ; Yeasts/*drug effects/isolation & purification

Koreans had an ill feeling against the only public isolation hospital, and their ill feeling was a cause the movement for establishing a private isolation hospital. The bad seating capacity and the nearness to downtown of public isolation hospital, and some violence caused in the course of taking a patient to the public isolation hospital were concrete causes of the movement for establishing a private isolation hospital. The three purposes of the movement for establishing a private isolation hospital are as follows. First, for the purpose of removing the national ill feeling, Koreans had to establish the isolation hospital by themselves. Second, for the purpose of curing the patients, doctors needed to use Oriental medicine together. Third, for the purpose of doing away with the anxiety of infection, the isolation hospital had to be located in a distant place from downtown. The movement for establishing a private isolation hospital didn't succeed. It only ended up establishing a contagious ward in Severance hospital. Because whenever an isolation hospital was planned to be constructed somehere, the residents worrying about the infection opposed to the construction, and enough money didn't be gathered. Abve all, rich pro-Japanese men didn't contribute enough money. The middle and lower classes contributed almost all of the money. The movement for estabishing a private isolation hospital was the extension of anti-Japanese national feeling that sprung from the March 1st movement. In view of strenghtening Korean ability, the movement for establishing a private isolation hospital had a common cause with the Shilryokyangsong movement in the early 1920s.
Cholera/*history ; Colonialism/*history ; Communicable Diseases/*history ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 20th Cent. ; Hospitals, Public/*history ; Hospitals, Special/*history ; Human ; Japan ; Korea ; Patient Isolation/*history ; Politics