Objectives We estimated the overall and age-specific percentages of the Korean population
with presumed immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) as of April 2022 using the national registry.
Methods We used the national coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and vaccination
registry from South Korea, as described to define individuals with a previous history of
COVID-19 infection, vaccination, or both, as persons with presumed immunity.
Results Of a total of 53,304,627 observed persons, 24.4% had vaccination and infection, 58.1%
had vaccination and no infection, 7.6% had infection and no vaccination, and 9.9% had no
immunity. The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant emerged at a time when the presumed population
immunity ranged from 80% to 85%; however, nearly half of the children were presumed to
have no immunity.
Conclusion We report a gap in population immunity, with lower presumed protection in
children than in adults. The approach presented in this work can provide valuable informed
tools to assist vaccine policy-making at a national level.
Citations
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Objectives We conducted a comparative analysis of the differences in the incidence of 8 acute respiratory viruses and the changes in their patterns before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: Three sentinel surveillance systems of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service were analyzed. The average numbers of reported cases and the related hospital admissions and outpatient data were compared between April 2018–2019 and 2020–2021. Changes in the disease burden and medical expenditures between these 2 time periods were evaluated. Results: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of reported cases of all acute respiratory viral infections, except for human bocavirus, decreased significantly. Data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service also showed decreases in the actual amount of medical service usage and a marked reduction in medical expenditures. Conclusion: Non-pharmacological interventions in response to COVID-19 showed preventive effects on the transmission of other respiratory viruses, as well as COVID-19. Although COVID-19 had a tremendous impact on society as a whole, with high social costs, there were also positive effects, such as a reduction in the incidence of acute respiratory viral infections.
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Objectives
The Korea HIV/AIDS cohort was constructed with 18 hospitals that care for HIV-infected individuals in 2006. We compared the epidemiological and immunological characteristics of the cohort registrants with those of the HIVinfected population at the time of HIV diagnosis. Methods
This study was conducted on 5717 people living with HIV/AIDS from 1985 to 2009, of which 789 individuals registered with the Korea HIV/AIDS cohort study. Individuals who had data from initial CD4+ T-cell counts measured within 6 months following HIV diagnosis were selected as study participants to predict the status of disease progression at the time of HIV diagnosis. A total of 2886 patients (50%) were selected from people living with HIV/AIDS, of whom 424 individuals (54%) were cohort registrants. The χ2 test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used for analysis. Results
The distributions of age, marital status, diagnosed regions, reason for HIV testing, and screening site were similar between the HIV-infected population and the cohort registrants. In 1985–2004, the male ratio for the cohort registrants (94.3%) was significantly higher than that measured for the HIV-infected population (89.5%) (p = 0.0339). With regard to transmission route, homosexual contact of cohort registrants (46.6%) was higher than that of the HIV-infected population (40.1%) (p = 0.022) in 2005–2009. No statistical difference in CD4+ T-cell counts at the time of HIV diagnosis was found between the HIVinfected population and cohort registrants (p = 0.2195). Conclusion
The Korea HIV/AIDS cohort registrants represent the HIV-infected population, and the data collected from this cohort could be used as a foundation for national statistics.
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Changing Patterns of HIV Epidemic in 30 Years in East Asia S. Pilar Suguimoto, Teeranee Techasrivichien, Patou Masika Musumari, Christina El-saaidi, Bhekumusa Wellington Lukhele, Masako Ono-Kihara, Masahiro Kihara Current HIV/AIDS Reports.2014; 11(2): 134. CrossRef
Can Stigma Still Distort the Spectrum of a Disease? Hae-Wol Cho, Chaeshin Chu Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives.2012; 3(2): 65. CrossRef