Most of lichens are formed by Ascomycota, less than 1% are lichenized Basidiomycota. The flora investigation of lichenized Ascomycota of South Korea has been well studied in the past three decades; however, prior to this study, none of basidiolichens was discovered. During the recent excursion, an unexpected clavarioid basidiolichen, Sulzbacheromyces sinensis was collected. Morphology and ecology has been recorded in detail. DNA was extracted, and ITS, 18S, 28S nuclear rDNA were generated. In order to further confirm the systematic position of the Korean specimens, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analysis including all the species of the order Lepidostromatales were conducted based on the ITS. As a result, the phylogenetic tree of the order Lepidostromatales was reconstructed, which differed from the previous studies. The inferred phylogenetic tree showed that species of Sulzbacheromyces in three different continents (Asia, South Africa and South America) were separated into three clades with support. In this study, the species worldwide distribution map of Lepidostromatales was illustrated, and S. sinensis had a widest distribution range (paleotropical extend to the Sino-Japanese) than other species (paleotropical or neotropical). Prior to this study, the range of distribution, southernmost and northernmost points and the fruiting time of S. sinensis were recorded, and the genus Sulzbacheromyces was firstly reported from Korean peninsula and Philippines.
Ascomycota ; Asia ; Basidiomycota ; DNA ; DNA, Ribosomal ; Ecology ; Fruit ; Geography ; Korea ; Lichens ; Philippines ; Phylogeny ; South Africa ; Trees

BACKGROUND: Because there has been a recent increase in refugee applications in Korea, the mental health of these refugees merits greater study. METHODS: We surveyed 129 refugees (including those in process of refugee application) and 121 migrant workers living in urban communities, using: the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for depressive symptoms, the Impact Event Scale-Revised for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and the health questionnaires used in 2016 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). The majority of refugee subjects were from sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East. We compared the prevalence of possible depression and possible PTSD between refugees and migrant workers and refugees and age-gender matched samples from the KNHANES 2016. RESULTS: Frequency of suicidal planning during the last year was higher in the refugee group than Korean nationals, but frequency of suicidal attempt was not. High risk drinking was found in 0.8% of refugees, 6.6% of migrant workers and 27.2% of Korean nationals. Possible depression was present in 42.9% of refugee subjects, 33.3% of migrant workers, and 4.2% of Korean controls. Possible PTSD was present in 38.9% of refugees compared to 12.5% of migrant workers. Only major risk factor for depression among refugees was a traumatic event before entering Korea. CONCLUSION: Possible depression and PTSD are significantly more prevalent in refugees, compared to both migrant workers and Korean nationals. Prevalence rates are commensurate with refugee studies worldwide. Appropriate early screening and intervention schemes need to be developed for refugees entering Korea.
Adult ; Africa South of the Sahara ; Depression ; Drinking ; Humans ; Independent Living ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Mental Health ; Middle East ; Nutrition Surveys ; Prevalence ; Refugees ; Risk Factors ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Transients and Migrants

Histoplasmosis is a common endemic mycosis in North, Central, and South America, but Korea is not known as an endemic area. We treated an immunocompetent Korean patient who had histoplasmosis. A 65-year-old Korean man presented with multiple pulmonary clumps of tiny nodules in the both lungs. He had been diagnosed 40 years earlier with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and a fungus ball had been diagnosed 4 years earlier. He denied any history of overseas travel. The patient visited our hospital with dyspnea, blood-tinged sputum, and weight loss, which had appeared 2 months earlier. The patient underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lung biopsy. The biopsy sample showed necrotizing granuloma and the presence of multiple small yeast-like fungi. Tissue culture confirmed Histoplasma capsulatum, and he was finally diagnosed with pulmonary histoplasmosis. Therapy was initiated with 200 mg itraconazole orally once per day. The symptoms disappeared 1 week after the start of treatment. After 4 months, low-dose chest computed tomography showed improvement in the ground glass opacity and size of the lung lesions. In conclusion, we report a case of an immunocompetent patient who developed histoplasmosis in Korea. When a patient shows unexplainable progressive infiltrative lung lesions, histoplasmosis should be considered as one of differential diagnoses although Korea is not an endemic area.
Aged ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Dyspnea ; Fungi ; Glass ; Granuloma ; Histoplasma ; Histoplasmosis ; Humans ; Itraconazole ; Korea ; Lung ; South America ; Sputum ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; Weight Loss

Favus is a chronic dermatophyte infection of the scalp presented by thick yellow crusts within the hair follicles which leads to scarring alopecia. Favus is associated with poor hygiene and malnutrition so that it is seen almost exclusively in Africa, the Middle East and parts of South America with abruptly decreased incidence nowadays. The last report referring favus was published in 1996 in Korea, which might have historical significance. Herein, we report favus diagnosed in siblings in 1979.
Africa ; Alopecia ; Arthrodermataceae ; Cicatrix ; Hair Follicle ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Incidence ; Korea ; Malnutrition ; Middle East ; Scalp ; Siblings* ; South America ; Tinea Favosa*

The recent epidemic of Zika virus in South America caused people around the world to exhibit an increased interest in the impact of arboviral illnesses. In Korea, malaria and Japanese encephalitis are the most important mosquito-borne diseases that occur indigenously. However, with the continuously increasing number of international travelers, the incidence of imported arboviral illnesses is also increasing. Currently, dengue fever is the most common mosquito-borne disease among Korean international travelers. The number of patients with Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya fever, and Zika virus infection is also on the rise. Many countries that have disease-transmitting mosquitoes have already experienced autochthonous arboviral infections due to the introduction of viruses by travelers. Moreover, with global warming and urbanization of the areas in which mosquito-borne diseases occur, the environment is becoming more favorable for mosquito-borne diseases. This concise review describes the current status and outlook of mosquito-borne diseases in Korea.
Chikungunya Fever ; Culicidae ; Dengue ; Encephalitis, Japanese ; Global Warming ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Malaria ; South America ; Urbanization ; Zika Virus ; Zika Virus Infection

Zika is a re-emerging, mosquito-borne viral infection, which has been recently shown to cause microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Since 2015 the number of infected patients has increased significantly in South America. The purpose of this study was to identify the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of patients with Zika virus (ZIKV) infections in Korea. Patients who had visited areas of risk and tested positive in the ZIKV reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in blood, urine, or saliva specimens were included. The first Korean case of ZIKV infection was reported in March 2016, and 14 cases had been reported by October 2016. The median age of the patients was 34 years (19–64 years). Ten patients had been exposed in Southeast Asia and 4 in Latin America. Rash was the most common symptom (92.9%; 13/14), followed by myalgia (50.0%; 7/14), and arthralgia (28.6%, 4/14). There were no neurologic abnormalities and none of the patients was pregnant. Results of biochemical tests were normal. Positivity rates of RT-PCR for ZIKV in serum, urine, and saliva were 53.8%, 100.0%, and 83.3%, respectively in the first week of symptoms. In conclusion, 14 patients with ZIKV infections were reported in Korea by October 2016 and all of them had mild clinical symptoms.
Arthralgia ; Asia, Southeastern ; Epidemiology* ; Exanthema ; Guillain-Barre Syndrome ; Humans ; Korea* ; Latin America ; Microcephaly ; Myalgia ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Saliva ; South America ; Virus Shedding ; Zika Virus*

BACKGROUND: Travel-related risks for infectious diseases vary depending on travel patterns such as purpose, destination, and duration. In this study, we describe the patterns of travel and prescription of vaccines as well as malaria prophylaxis medication (MPM) at a travel clinic in South Korea to identify the gaps to fill for the optimization of pre-travel consultation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cohort of travel clinic visitors in 2011 was constructed and early one-third of the visitors of each month were reviewed. During the study period, 10,009 visited the travel clinic and a retrospective chart review was performed for 3,332 cases for analysis of travel patterns and prescriptions. RESULTS: People receiving yellow fever vaccine (YFV) (n = 2,933) were traveling more frequently for business and tourism and less frequently for providing non-medical service or research/education compared to the 399 people who did not receive the YFV. Overall, most people were traveling to Eastern Africa, South America, and Western Africa, while South-Eastern Asia was the most common destination for the non-YFV group. Besides YFV, the typhoid vaccine was the most commonly prescribed (54.2%), while hepatitis A presented the highest coverage (74.7%) considering the natural immunity, prior and current vaccination history. Additionally, 402 (82.5%) individuals received a prescription for MPM among the 487 individuals travelling to areas with high-risk of malaria infection. Age over 55 was independently associated with receiving MPM prescription, while purpose of providing service and travel duration over 10 days were associated with no MPM prescription, despite travelling to high-risk areas. CONCLUSION: Eastern Africa and South America were common travel destinations among the visitors to a travel clinic for YFV, and most of them were travelling for tourism and business. For the individuals who are traveling to areas with high-risk for malaria, more proactive approach might be required in case of younger age travelers, longer duration, and travel purpose of providing service to minimize the risk of malaria infection.
Africa, Eastern ; Africa, Western ; Antibiotic Prophylaxis ; Asia ; Cohort Studies ; Commerce ; Communicable Diseases ; Hepatitis A ; Immunity, Innate ; Korea* ; Malaria ; Prescriptions* ; Retrospective Studies ; South America ; Travel Medicine ; Typhoid-Paratyphoid Vaccines ; Vaccination* ; Vaccines ; Yellow Fever Vaccine ; Yellow Fever*

OBJECTIVES: An official guideline must be prepared for legalizing the doctor-patient telemedicine system based on the evaluations of the ongoing telemedicine demonstration project performed by the Korean government. In this study, critical items of the Korean telemedicine guideline are suggested based on the guidelines of developed countries. METHODS: To investigate the telemedicine guidelines of developed countries, a keyword of 'telemedicine guidelines' was used for Google search to find out US, Australian, and Japanese guidelines. The common items included in two or more of the followings were screened: US Core Operational Guidelines for Telehealth Services Involving Provider-Patient Interactions, the Australian New South Wales (NSW) Agency for Clinical Innovation Guidelines for the use of Telehealth for Clinical and Non Clinical Settings in NSW, and the Japanese Guidelines for the practice of home telemedicine. RESULTS: A total of 22 common items of the following four domains, which could be used for the Korean guideline were screened: the common features in overall considerations (6 items), the common features in clinical considerations (6 items), the common features in technical considerations (5 items), and the common features in privacy considerations (5 items). These 22 items were suggested as the critical items of the Korean telemedicine guideline. CONCLUSIONS: The screened 22 items of the telemedicine guideline must be further organized for details. Additional studies and professional opinions on the telemedicine cases and on the guidelines of developed countries are required to establish the Korean guideline in the near future.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Developed Countries ; Health Care Reform ; Humans ; Korea* ; New South Wales ; Privacy ; Remote Consultation ; Telecommunications ; Telemedicine*

OBJECTIVES: Quarantine measure for prevention of epidemic disease and further evaluations of their efficiency are possible only by elaborating analyses of imported cases. The purpose of this study was to analyze descriptive epidemiological characteristics of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) cases imported to Korea. METHODS: We collected two sets of data. The first set, comprised daily reported cases of H1N1 obtained from local cities in accordance with government policy about mandatory reporting of all H1N1 cases during May 1 to August 19, 2009. The second set, including 372 confirmed imported H1N1 cases, identified from 13 National Quarantine Stations in the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from May 24 to December 31, 2009. However, given the lack of information on the nature of the imported H1N1 cases from the two data sets during the over lapping period from May 24 to August 19, we express the number of imported cases as a range for this period. RESULTS: We estimated that the number of imported H1N1 cases from May 1 to August 19, 2009, was between 1,098 and 1,291 and the total number of cases was 2,409 to 2,580. We found the number of imported cases was beginning to diminish as of August. A analysis of the second data set showed that the distribution of sex was similar (males 50.7%, females 49.3%) and the age distribution from 20 to 59 was 61.5% and that of 60 and over was 0.8% of the 372 cases. We identified 25 countries where people infected with H1N1 traveled and 67.5% were in Asia. But the proportion of cases (/1,000) by region shows Oceania (0.199), South America (0.118), Southeast Asia (0.071), North America (0.049), Europe (0.035), and Northeast Asia (0.016) in that order. The order of H1N1 peaking was the Southern Hemisphere, Tropics, and the Nothern Hemisphere. CONCLUSIONS: This study provided information that could make possible the evaluation of the government quarantine measure for stopping imported disease from causing community-acquired spread in the future.
Age Distribution ; Asia ; Asia, Southeastern ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Europe ; Female ; Hospitals, Isolation ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Korea ; Mandatory Reporting ; North America ; Oceania ; Pandemics ; Quarantine ; South America

International migration of people has risen exponentially during the past two decades. Many people travel abroad for business purposes, sightseeing, volunteer activities, immigration, education, missonary work, etc., and are exposed to vector-borne and food or water-borne parasitic diseases, especially when they are traveling to the tropical and sub-tropical areas. Recently, imported parasitic diseases have also increased in Korea due to frequent traveling by the local residents or entry of foreign workers to the country. According to the statistics from 1970 to 2008, malaria (727 cases) was the most frequently imported parasitic disease in Korea followed by gnathostomiasis (42 cases) and hydatidosis (31 cases). From 1970 to 2010, cases of ancylostomiasis (1 case), angiostrongylosis (15 cases), babesiosis (8 cases), cutaneous larva migrans (8 cases), cutaneous myiasis (2 cases), cyclosporiasis (1 case), heterophyiasis (2 cases), leishmaniasis (28 cases), loiasis (3 cases), pentastomiasis (1 case), schistosomiasis (13 cases), and syngamosis (1 case) have also been reported. Travelers to Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America should be on alert against malaria and other tropical diseases. National surveillance for imported diseases started in 2001 by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). This article reviews imported parasitic diseases in Korea with review of literature.
Africa South of the Sahara ; Ancylostomiasis ; Animals ; Asia, Southeastern ; Babesiosis ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Commerce ; Cyclosporiasis ; Echinococcosis ; Emigration and Immigration ; Gnathostomiasis ; Korea ; Larva Migrans ; Leishmaniasis ; Loiasis ; Malaria ; Myiasis ; Parasitic Diseases ; Schistosomiasis ; South America