BACKGROUND: Nowadays, as public awareness of t,he Acquired immunedeficiency syndrome(AIDS) epidemic was increasing, athletes have become more concerned about their risk of infection with human immunedeficiency virus(HIV) since it, was announced that Magic Johnson, hero of basketball in the United States, was infected. Because there are no exact cure method about AIDS, the only treatment is prevention through the education and awareness of AIDS. Therefore, we researched the athletes knowledge of AIDS to provide the b#asis of preventive methods. METHODS: A questionnaire was given directly to the 110 wrestling and taekwondo athletes attending a sports college. RESULT: Athletes are all men and their mean age is 24.6 years old. Concerning the question of latent period, 54.5% had correct answer that AIDS development took more than several years after HIV infection. The person who had educated about the preventive methods of infection during the sports was 4.6%. The person who answered AIDS athletes should be excluded from the sports was 64.5% and the reason of exclusion was the risk of infection through the small bleeding(49.8%), sweating(38.0%), and simple skin cont,acts(19. 7%) during the sports. The correct recognition rate of preventive method of infection during the sports was 51.8 to 62%. Concerning the risk routes and behaviors of infection during daily life, most of them recognized correctly(from 76,3% to 99.0% by each item), but some have also misconception about transfusion(61.0%), skin contact(33%) and mosquitos bite(30%) etc. CONCLUSION: Almost all of athletes recognized correctly the risky behavior of sex and blood in transmission of infection, but some have also misconception in daily activities, e.g. transfusion and mosquitos. Many persons answered AIDS infected athletes should be excluded from the sports and they didnt receive any education about preventive methods of AIDS infection during the sports. The knowledge of preventive methods of infection recommended during the sports was relatively high.
Athletes* ; Basketball ; Culicidae ; Education ; HIV Infections ; Humans ; Korea* ; Magic ; Male ; Skin ; Sports ; United States ; Wrestling ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Five to fifteen percent of patients affected by human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) are children in developing countries. In Korea, most of HIV infections in children have been transfusion-related, and cases of vertical transmission have been very rare so far and are usually suspected due to a maternal positive history. We experienced a case of vertical transmission of HIV in a 19 month- old girl, incidentally diagnosed in the process of work-up for failure to thrive without suspicion from maternal HIV history. With the increasing number of adult HIV patients in Korea, HIV in fection should be included in the differential diagnosis of children with symptoms compatible with HIV infection even when parental HIV history is not suggestive.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; Adult ; Child ; Developing Countries ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Failure to Thrive* ; Female ; HIV Infections ; HIV* ; Humans ; Humans* ; Infant* ; Korea ; Parents

BACKGROUND: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is ultimately an inflammatory state. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) level are inflammatory markers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of the ESR, CRP and APACHE II score as prognostic factors for patient with ARDS. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 87 ARDS patients. The predictors (APACHE II score, ESR and CRP) and outcomes (mortality and length of the total hospital stay, the ICU stay and mechanical ventilator care) were obtained from the patients' records. The patients were grouped according to survival as the Survivor and Non survivor groups. We compared the APACHE II score, the ESR and the CRP level between the survivor group and the nonsurvivor group. We evaluated the correlation between the predictors and the outcomes. The initial ESR, CRP level and APACHE II score were checked at the time of ICU admission and the second ESR and CRP level were checked 3.3+/-1.2 days after ICU admission. RESULTS: Thirty-eight (43.7%) patients remained alive and 49 (56.3%) patients died. The APACHE II score was significantly lower for the survivor group than that for the non survivor group (14.7+/-7.6 vs 19.6+/-9.1, respectively, p=0.006). The initial ESR and CRP level were not different between the survivor and non-survivor groups (ESR 64.0+/-37.8 mm/hr vs 63.3+/-36.7 mm/hr, respectively, p=0.93, CRP 15.5+/-9.6 mg/dl vs 16.3+/-8.5 mg/dl, respectively, p=0.68). The decrement of the CRP level for the survivor group was greater than that for the non survivor group (-8.23+/-10.0 mg/dl vs -1.46+/-10.1 mg/dl, respectively, p=0.003). Correlation analysis revealed the initial ESR was positively correlated with the length of the total hospital stay and the ICU stay (correlation coefficient of the total hospital days: R=0.43, p=0.001, correlation coefficient of the ICU stay: R=0.39, p=0.014). CONCLUSION: The initial APACHE II score can predict the mortality of ARDS patients, and the degree of the early CRP change can be a predictor of mortality for ARDS patients. The initial ESR has positive correlation with the ARDS patients' duration of the total hospital stay and the ICU stay.
APACHE ; Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Prognosis ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Retrospective Studies ; Survivors ; Ventilators, Mechanical