Recommended immunization schedule for children and adolescents: the Korean Pediatric Society, 2013

This article contains the recommended immunization schedule by the Committee on Infectious Diseases of the Korean Pediatric Society, updated in March 2013, when Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine is now included in the National Immunization Program in Korea. It also includes catch-up immunization schedule for children and adolescents who are behind the recommended schedule. These schedules are a minor revision of the corresponding parts of Immunization Guideline, 7th edition, of the Korean Pediatric Society, released in 2012. Pediatricians should be aware of these schedules to provide adequate immunization to Korean children and adolescents

Development of supplemental nutrition care program for women, infants and children in Korea: NutriPlus+

Onto the world-fastest ageing of society, the world-lowest fertility rate prompted a development of various policies and programs for a betterment of the population in Korea. Since the vulnerability of young children of low socio-economic class to malnutrition was clearly shown at the in-depth analysis of the 2001 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, an effort to devise supplemental nutrition care program for pregnant/breastfeeding women, infants and preschool children was initiated. The program was designed to offer nutrition education tailored to fit the needs of the participants and special supplementary foods, using USDA WIC program as a benchmark. Based on the dietary intake of those age groups, target nutrients were selected and their major food sources were searched through nutrient content of foods and dietary pattern analysis. As a result, we developed 6 kinds of food packages using combinations of 11 different food items. The amount of each item in a food package was determined to supplement the intake deficit in target nutrients. Nutrition education in NutriPlus+ aims to improve the nutrition knowledge, attitude, and dietary behaviors of the participants, and is provided through group lessons, individual counseling sessions and home visits. Breastfeeding is promoted with top priority in education for the health of both mother and baby. The eligibility guidelines were set for residency, household income, age, pregnancy/breastfeeding and nutritional risk such as anemia, stunting, underweight, and/or inadequate nutrient intake. Income eligibility was defined as household income less than 200 percent of the Korean poverty guidelines. A pilot study to examine the feasibility of program implementation was run in 3 public health centers in 2005 and expanded to 15 and 20 in the following 2 years. The result of 3-year pilot study will be reported separately along with the ultimate nationwide implementation of the NutriPlus+ in 2008

Recommendation for use of the newly introduced pneumococcal protein conjugate vaccines in Korea

Streptococcus pneumoniae remains a leading cause of invasive infections including bacteremia and meningitis, as well as mucosal infections such as otitis media and pneumonia among children and adults. The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was licensed for use among infants and young children in many countries including Korea. The routine use of PCV7 has resulted in a decreased incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) by the vaccine serotypes among the vaccinees and substantial declines in IPD among unvaccinated populations such as older children and adults as well. In addition, there are increasing evidences to suggest that routine immunization with PCV7 is changing the epidemiology of pneumococcal diseases such as serotype distribution of IPD, nasopharyngeal colonization, and antibiotic resistance patterns. In contrast, there is an increase in the number of IPDs caused by nonvaccine serotypes, though it is much smaller than overall declines of vaccine serotype diseases. Several vaccines containing additional serotypes have been developed and tested clinically in order to expand the range of serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Recently two new pneumococcal protein conjugate vaccines, 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13), have been approved for use in several countries including Korea. This report summarizes the recommendations approved by the Committee on Infectious Diseases, the Korean Pediatric Society

Infectious diseases in children and adolescents in the Republic of Korea; Past & recent status

Compared to the past decades, in recent decades, environmental and hygienic conditions in the Republic of Korea have improved along with socioeconomic developments, and the incidence of most infectious diseases, especially vaccine-preventable diseases, has greatly decreased due to active immunization with the developed level of health care. However, the incidence of some diseases has been increasing, and new diseases have been emerging. To cope with such changes actively, the government put the "Law for Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases" into effect; this law was entirely revised on December 30, 2010. In this report, I review the past and recent status of infectious diseases in the Republic of Korea, following the introduction of this law, on the basis of data in the "National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System", which had been accumulated between the years 1960 and 2010

Report on the Epidemiological Features of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in the Republic of Korea from January 19 to March 2, 2020

Since the first case of coronavirus disease19 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan, China, as of March 2, 2020, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 was 89,069 cases in 67 countries and regions. As of 0 am, March 2, 2020, the Republic of Korea had the second-largest number of confirmed cases (n = 4,212) after China (n = 80,026). This report summarizes the epidemiologic features and the snapshots of the outbreak in the Republic of Korea from January 19 and March 2, 2020