ABSTRACT
Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) is an important and increasing threat to global health. From July to September 2017, 20 inpatients at a tertiary care hospital in Korea were either colonized or infected with carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli strains. All of E. coli isolates co-produced blaNDM-5 and blaOXA-181 carbapenemase genes and shared ≥88% clonal relatedness on the basis of a cladistic calculation of the distribution of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns. Rapid detection of CPE is one of the most important factors to prevent CPE dissemination because it takes long time for CPE to become negative.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: A fast and accurate diagnosis is necessary to control and eliminate tuberculosis (TB). In Korea, TB continues to be a serious public health problem. In this study, diagnostic tests on clinical samples from patients suspected to have TB were performed and the sensitivity and specificity of the various techniques were compared. The main objective of the study was to compare various diagnostic tests and evaluate their sensitivity and specificity for detecting tuberculosis. METHODS: From January 2013 to December 2013, 170,240 clinical samples from patients suspected to have TB were tested with smear microscopy, acid-fast bacilli culture, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The test results were compared and data were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 8216 cultures tested positive for TB (positive detection rate, 4.8%). The contamination rate in the culture was 0.6% and the isolation rate of nontuberculous mycobacteria was 1.0%. The sensitivity and specificity of smear microscopy were 56.8% and 99.6%, respectively. The concordance rate between the solid and liquid cultures was 92.8%. Mycobacterium isolates were not detected in 0.4% of the cases in the liquid culture, whereas no Mycobacterium isolates were detected in 6.8% of the cases in the solid culture. The sensitivity and specificity of real-time PCR for the solid culture were 97.2% and 72.4%, respectively, whereas the corresponding data for the liquid culture were 93.5% and 97.2%. CONCLUSION: The study results can be used to improve existing TB diagnosis procedure as well as for comparing the effectiveness of the assay tests used for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.
ABSTRACT
Schizandra chinensis Baillon, or omija, is a fruit native to northeast Asia that is cultivated in South Korea and China. Fresh omija fruit has been used in beverages, traditional East Asian medicine and cosmetics because of its complex flavor and pharmacological effectiveness. The objective of this study was to analyze residue levels of 33 kinds of pesticides on fresh omija fruits and in omija juices produced in South Korea. A risk assessment of the pesticides in omija juice was conducted by calculating EDI and ADI. Most of the pesticide levels were below the LOD in fresh omija fruits. Among the detected compounds, the most frequently detected pesticide was ethoprophos. The EDIs of ethoprophos, pendimethalin and hexaconazole were 5.89E-03, 7.08E-04 and 4.73E-05, respectively. The percent of EDI to ADI of ethoprophos, pendimethalin and hexaconazole was 28.0%, 13.6% and 4.5%, respectively. The results of this research concluded that the detected pesticides are not harmful to human beings.
