Epidemiological Characteristics of Imported Influenza A (H1N1) Cases during the 2009 Pandemic in Korea / 한국역학회지

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.

A Nationwide Survey on the Hand Washing Behavior and Awareness / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to evaluate the public's awareness of the importance of hand washing and to compare perceptions on the habit of hand washing with actual hand washing behavior. METHODS: Data were collected by observing 2,800 participants washing their hands after using public restrooms in seven cities nationwide and by surveying 1,000 respondents (age > 14 years) through telephone interviews using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Although 94% of the survey respondents claimed to mostly or always wash their hands after using public restrooms, only 63.4% of the observed participants did wash their hands after using public restrooms. Significant factors related to increased adherence to hand washing were female gender, approximate ages of 20 to 39 years by their appearance, and the presence of other people from the observation. About 79% of the survey respondents always washed their hands after using bathrooms at home, 73% washed their hands before handling food, and 67% washed their hands upon returning to their home. However, 93.2% and 86.3% of the survey respondents did not wash their hands after coughing or sneezing and after handling money, respectively. Although most of the survey respondents (77.6%) were aware that hand washing is helpful in preventing communicable diseases, 39.6% of the survey respondents did not do so because they were 'not accustomed' to washing their hands and 30.2% thought that washing their hands is 'annoying'. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first comprehensive report on hand washing behavior and awareness of the general population in Korea. The result of this study in terms of individual behavior and awareness of hand washing are comparable with similar studies conducted in other countries. However adherence to hand washing is still low and needs to be increased. The results of this study can be used as a baseline in setting up strategies and activities to Bpromote adherence to hand washing.