Publications by authors named "Hee-Chun Chung"

An investigation into retrovirus was conducted in six species of bats (, , , , , and ) inhabiting South Korea. Exogenous retroviruses (XRVs) were detected in the tissue samples of individuals by PCR assay. Proviruses were identified in all tissue samples through viral quantification using a digital PCR assay per organ (lung, intestine, heart, brain, wing, kidney, and liver), with viral loads varying greatly between each organ.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mammalian orthoreoviruses (MRVs) infect a wide range of hosts, including humans, livestock, and wildlife. In the present study, we isolated a novel from the intestine of a microbat () and investigated its biological and pathological characteristics. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the new isolate was serotype 2, sharing the segments with those from different hosts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study applied a molecular-based method to detect parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5) collected from 2016 to 2018 in nine provinces of Republic of Korea. We demonstrated that PIV5 was detectable in both serum and pooled organs at an average positive rate of 1.78% (99/5566).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on a novel alphacoronavirus called HCQD-2020 found in bats, which is significant for understanding potential future pandemics.
  • Genetic analysis and next-generation sequencing were used to assemble the virus's genome, revealing it as distantly related to other known coronaviruses.
  • Phylogenetic analysis suggested that HCQD-2020 could be a new species and indicated a risk of cross-species infection, particularly with livestock in the Artiodactyla order.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) is a causative agent of respiratory disease complex in turkeys and chickens that has recently been detected in Vietnam. Due to its novelty, this study was conducted to elucidate the distribution of aMPV in several provinces in northern Vietnam. By the application of Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and nested Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), this study demonstrated the circulation of aMPV in 12 out of 14 cities/provinces with positive rates of 37.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

New viruses are continuously emerging and recently there have been many great concerns on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Nanographene oxide (nanoGO) has received much attention and is widely investigated to be utilised in therapy for infectious diseases by viruses. Thus, antiviral activity of nanoGO was evaluated using the porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV), bovine coronavirus (BCoV), and SARS-CoV-2, which are all Alpha- and Beta-coronavirus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Torque teno viruses (TTVs) have been detected worldwide, from a wide range of animals. Up to date, few studies focused on the prevalence of TTVs in general and swine torque teno viruses (TTSuVs) in particular in Korean swine farms.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the appearance of TTSuVs and TTVs in sick pigs during the 2017-2018 period.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Feline calicivirus (FCV) is a highly infectious pathogen in cats and widely distributed worldwide with high genetic variation. Full-length open reading frame 2 of 5 from recently isolated Korean FCV isolates were sequenced and compared with those of global isolates. The results of phylogenetic analysis supported dividing global FCV isolates into two genogroups (type I and II) and demonstrated the presence of genogroup II in Korea, indicating their geographic spread in East Asia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDV) is one of the major pathogens causing acute enteritis, which is characterised by vomiting and watery diarrhoea and commonly leads to high rates of mortality and morbidity in suckling piglets. Chitosan has been regarded as a promising natural disinfectant. In this study, the disinfectant effect and mammalian-cell toxicity of chitosan were evaluated against PEDV using Vero cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Swine abortion caused by viruses as well as bacteria has caused many economic losses in domestic farms over the years; however, bacterial abortion has not yet been studied in Korea. Several bacterial species were isolated from aborted fetuses (n = 103) for which the cause of death was not viral abortion. Among them, we focused on Aerococcus viridans, which had the highest positive rate within three provinces (Gangwon, Jeonnam and Gyeongnam).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Porcine circovirus 4 (PCV4), a novel and unclassified member of the genus Circovirus, was first reported in China in 2019. Aiming to provide more evidence about the active circulation of PCV4, this study screened 335 pooled internal organs and detected the virus (i) at a rate of 3.28%, (ii) from both clinically healthy and clinically sick pigs of various age groups, and (iii) in six out of nine provinces of Korea.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Porcine circovirus type 3 (PCV3) has been identified in multiple countries between 2015-2018, with six strains (IH, SJ, N5, N10, N13, N62) found in a study analyzing 220 samples in Korea.
  • The strains were difficult to classify due to diverse genetic relationships, leading to the creation of 16 new reassembled PCV3 sequences for better analysis.
  • A model incorporating replicase, ORF3, and capsid protein genes enabled the categorization of PCV3 into three genotypes and various subtypes, helping advance the understanding of its classification globally.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

() causes continuous, significant damage to the swine industry worldwide. By RT-PCR-based methods, this study demonstrated the ongoing presence of in pigs of all ages in Korea at the average detection rate of 9.92%.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Canine parvovirus (CPV) and feline panleukopenia (FPV) cause severe intestinal disease and leukopenia.

Objectives: In Korea, there have been a few studies on Korean FPV and CPV-2 strains. We attempted to investigate several genetic properties of FPV and CPV-2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The S glycoprotein of coronaviruses is important for viral entry and pathogenesis with most variable sequences. Therefore, we analyzed the S gene sequences of SARS-CoV-2 to better understand the antigenicity and immunogenicity of this virus in this study. In phylogenetic analysis, two subtypes (SARS-CoV-2a and -b) were confirmed within SARS-CoV-2 strains.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: with the advantage of sequencing technology, many novel porcine parvoviruses (PPV) rather than PPV1 has been reported. This study ultilized specific PCR- based method and gene- based analysis to study the presence and genetic diversity of porcine parvoviruses in South Korea in 2018.

Results: The present study was conducted in 2018 and found PPV1 and PPV7 in nine out of 151 field samples (organs and semen) by the PCR method.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Recent results on the detection and genetic characterization of stool-associated RNA viruses from different species have increased the knowledge about the extreme genetic diversity of picornaviruses. This study aimed to investigate the presence of unclassified porcine stool-associated RNA viruses (posaviruses) in South Korea and to elucidate the molecular evolution of the viruses. By RT-PCR, posaviruses 1 and 3 were exclusively found in fecal samples and consistently detected in three consecutive years in six of eight provinces, with 148/697 (21.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) integrate into germline DNA as proviral genome that enables vertical transmission from parents to their offspring. The provirus usually survives as part of the host genome rather than as an infectious agent, but may become pathogenic if it crosses species barriers. Therefore, replication-competent PERV should be controlled through selective breeding or knockout technologies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In Korea, for the past 30 years (1987-present), porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) has been established as an endemic situation in which multiple genogroups of classical G1 and G2b, and the recently introduced pandemic G2a, coexisted. Because of the dynamic nature of the virus, continuous field monitoring for PEDV strains is required. This study is the first to reveal prevalence of PEDV in 9 sampling provinces, with an overall detection rate of 6.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Porcine parvovirus (PPV) is one of the main causes of porcine reproductive failure. It is important for swine industries to understand the recent trends in PPV evolution. Previous data show that PPV has two genetic lineages originating in Germany.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Two porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) strains, named DH1/2016 and DH2/2016, were isolated from feces of piglets which had severe watery diarrhea symptoms. A comparison of the complete genome sequences suggested that the DH1/2016 and DH2/2016 strains are highly homologous to each other and to PDCoVs isolated in early 2014 from the United States.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Since outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in the United States in 2013, explosive outbreaks of PED in South Korea have infected all age groups of pigs in 2014-2015year. This study analyzed a large collection of the Spike protein coding gene to infer the spatial-temporal diffusion history of PEDV. The studying results suggested that PEDVs in Korea belonged to different genogroups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study was conducted to determine if humoral antibody response of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine improved in 8-week-old growing pigs born to well-vaccinated sows pre-treated with 60 mg of poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) three days before vaccination. Antibody against FMD virus serotype O was measured 0, 2, 4 and 6 weeks post-vaccination, using a PrioCHECK FMDV type O ELISA kit. The results showed that positive antibody reactions against FMDV serotype O antigen among a component of the vaccine significantly increased in response to pre-injection with γ-PGA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Several viruses in the family Bunyaviridae are pathogenic to animals and cause vector-borne zoonoses. In 2013, investigation of cause of death of 9 pigs on 1 farm in the Republic of Korea found infection with Gouleako and Herbert viruses. Subsequent investigation revealed high prevalence of these viruses among pigs throughout the country.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF