Prevalence and Public Awareness of Sleep Apnea Syndrome in South Korea

Objectives@#In South Korea, a significant number of patients with obstructive sleep apnea have benefited from the insured continuous positive pressure for sleep apnea as of 2018. However, there is limited information on public awareness of sleep apnea syndrome in the country. A nationwide survey was conducted to evaluate the current status of public awareness on the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea. @*Methods@#We conducted an online survey using structured questionnaires on symptoms and knowledge of diagnosis and treatment modalities for sleep apnea. A total of 4,000 participants aged 21 to 69 were proportionally allocated according to the residential area, gender, and age group. @*Results@#The STOP questionnaire, a screening tool for sleep apnea, revealed that 1,044 (21.6%) scored ≥2 points, 327 (8.1%) scored ≥3 points, and 64 (1.6%) scored 4 points. However, only 19 of the 1,044 patients were being treated for sleep apnea, and 13 had been using continuous positive airway pressure. For the diagnosis of sleep apnea, 1,318 participants (33.0%) responded that polysomnography was necessary. For sleep apnea treatment, 1,954 (48.9%) participants responded that lifestyle modification was the treatment of choice, while 1,036 (25.9%) chose continuous positive pressure. @*Conclusions@#Although one-fifth were at high risk for sleep apnea, this disorder is still underestimated. Therefore, publicity and support are needed to improve public awareness of sleep apnea.

Control of type O foot-and-mouth disease by vaccination in Korea, 2014–2015

On December 3, 2014, a type O foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak began in Korea. Although vaccinations were administered, FMD cases increased steadily for five months, and reached 185 cases by April 2015. Most of the affected animals were pigs, which are vulnerable to vaccination. The FMD virus belonged to the South-East Asia (SEA) topotype that had been observed three times in Korea between April 2010 and July 2014. However, the FMD virus isolated in December 2014 had a unique feature; that is, partial deletion of the 5′ non-coding region, a deletion not seen in previous SEA topotype isolates identified in Korea. We conclude that this outbreak included the introduction of a new FMD strain to Korea, and that Korea was now affected by genetically similar FMD virus strains that are related to those from neighboring countries.

Immune responses in pigs and cattle vaccinated with half-volume foot-and-mouth disease vaccine

With the current commercial foot-and-mouth disease vaccine, inoculating twice increases the formation of denatured meat due to granuloma or residual adjuvant at the injection site in pigs, resulting in economic loss. Therefore, we investigated protective antibody levels after reducing the amount of adjuvant in the vaccine. Field applicability of the experimental vaccine, made with a new adjuvant ISA 201, was tested by vaccinating farm animals with half-volume doses (1 mL/animal) of commercial vaccine and monitoring their immunogenicity. Among pigs, the group that received a half-volume dose showed similar or higher titers of structural protein antibody and neutralizing antibody than those receiving the standard dose (2 mL). In pigs, the durable effects of antibody titer of the reduced vaccine volume did not diminish up to the time of slaughter. Among cattle, boosting with a second 1 mL vaccine increased virus neutralizing antibody for the protective effects. The boosting effects were more marked in cattle than in pigs. The immune responses differed between species with the effect of the half-volume vaccination being lower in cattle than in pigs. In conclusion, the immune response to the half-volume vaccine was similar to that from the standard volume vaccine in pigs, but not in cattle.

Novel foot-and-mouth disease virus in Korea, July-August 2014

Despite nation-wide immunization with O, A, and Asia 1 type vaccines in Republic of Korea, foot-and-mouth disease type O occurred again in July 2014 after three years and three months. This virus was a Mya-98 strain of the Southeast Asian topotype and was most similar to the identified type that circulated in East Asia in 2014. This was new virus with the deletion of 23 amino acids in 3A/3B1 region and low pathogenic property.

Antigenic properties and virulence of foot-and-mouth disease virus rescued from full-length cDNA clone of serotype O, typical vaccine strain

We cloned the full-length cDNA of O Manisa, the virus for vaccinating against foot-and-mouth disease. The antigenic properties of the virus recovered from the cDNA were similar to those of the parental virus. Pathogenesis did not appear in the pigs, dairy goats or suckling mice, but neutralizing antibodies were raised 5-6 days after the virus challenge. The utilization of O Manisa as a safe vaccine strain will increase if recombinant viruses can be manipulated by inserting or removing a marker gene for differential serology or replacing the protective gene from another serotype.