Epidemic intelligence service officers and field epidemiology training program in Korea.

Korea has adopted Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers through the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) since 1999 for systematic control of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Graduates of medical schools in Korea are selected and serve as public health doctors (PHDs) for their mandatory military service. The duration of service is 3 years and PHDs comprise general practitioners and specialists.

Epidemiological characteristics of serologically confirmed q Fever cases in South Korea, 2006-2011.

Objectives: Q fever has been reported worldwide; however, there was almost no official report of Q fever in Korea. In this study, we describe the current status of human Q fever occurrence in Korea.

Methods: Demographic data of Q fever patients were collected from the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System from 2006 to 2011.

Epidemiological characteristics of the first water-borne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Seoul, Korea.

The first case of human cryptosporidiosis was reported in Korea in 1995; however, an outbreak of Cryptosporidium has not been reported in Korea until now. This paper describes the first outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Korea. On May 24, 2012, a local public health center filed a report on 126 residents with gastrointestinal symptoms in an old apartment complex in Seoul.

Trends in water- and foodborne disease outbreaks in Korea, 2007-2009.

Objectives: In Korea, every outbreak of acute gastroenteritis in two or more patients who are epidemiologically related is investigated by local public health centres to determine causative agents and control the outbreak with the support of the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings and conclusions of each outbreak investigation have been summarized annually since 2007 to make reports and statistics of water- and foodborne disease outbreaks.

Methods: All outbreaks reported to Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007 to 2009 were included in the study.