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A measles outbreak with 20 confirmed cases occurred at a local children's hospital in Daejeon from March 28 to April 21, 2019. The index patient was a 7-month-old girl with a recent history of travel to Vietnam. Contact tracing, active surveillance, and post-exposure prophylaxis were conducted by health authorities. Among the 20 patients, 11 (55%) were infants (0-11 months of age), three (15%) were aged 1-3 years, one (5%) was aged 4 years, and five (25%) were adults. Fifteen (75%) patients did not have a history of measles vaccination, and five (25%) had received only one vaccine dose. This study described the importance of prompt application of infection control measures in susceptible environments, including hospitals. Age-appropriate vaccination and providing information on infectious diseases to international travelers and multicultural families in Korea is vital., Competing Interests: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (© 2023 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.)

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is the most frequent form of invasive fungal diseases in immunocompromised patients. However, there are only a few studies on IPA in immunocompromised children in Korea. This study was designed to characterize IPA in Korean children with hematologic/oncologic diseases. Medical records of children with hematologic/oncologic diseases receiving antifungal therapy were reviewed. The enrolled children were divided into the IPA group (proven and probable IPA) and non-IPA group, and the clinical characteristics and prognosis were compared between the two groups. During the study period, 265 courses of antifungal therapy were administered to 166 children. Among them, two (0.8%) episodes of proven IPA, 35 (13.2%) of probable IPA, and 52 (19.6%) of possible IPA were diagnosed. More children in the IPA group suffered from neutropenia lasting for more than two weeks (51.4% vs. 21.9%, P<0.001) and showed halo signs on the chest computed tomography (78.4% vs. 40.7%, P<0.001) than in the non-IPA group. No other clinical factors showed significant differences between the two groups. Amphotericin B deoxycholate was administered as a first line antifungal agent in 33 (89.2%) IPA group episodes, and eventually voriconazole was administered in 27 (73.0%) episodes. Ten (27.0%) children in the IPA group died within 12 weeks of antifungal therapy. In conclusion, early use of chest computed tomography to identify halo signs in immunocompromised children who are expected to have prolonged neutropenia can be helpful for early diagnosis of IPA and improving prognosis of children with IPA.

This study was conducted to evaluate age-specific seroprevalence of pertussis in Korea and to formulate a strategy to prevent and reduce the incidence of pertussis. Residual serum samples of healthy adolescents and adults 11 yr of age or older were collected between July 2012 and December 2012, and anti-pertussis toxin (PT) IgG titers were measured using a commercial ELISA kit. We compared the mean anti-PT IgG titers and seroprevalence of pertussis of the six age groups: 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and ≥ 61 yr. A total of 1,192 subjects were enrolled. The mean anti-PT IgG titer and pertussis seroprevalence were 35.53 ± 62.91 EU/mL and 41.4%, respectively. The mean anti-PT IgG titers and seroprevalence were not significantly different between the age groups. However, the seroprevalence in individuals 51 yr of age or older was significantly higher than in individuals younger than 51 yr (46.5% vs 39.1%, P = 0.017). Based on these results, a new pertussis prevention strategy is necessary for older adults.

A genome-wide association study has identified the 15q25 region as being associated with the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Caucasians. This study intended as a confirmatory assessment of this association in a Korean population. The rs6495309C > T polymorphism in the promoter of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha subunit 3 (CHRNA3) gene was investigated in a case-control study that consisted of 406 patients with COPD and 394 healthy control subjects. The rs6495309 CT or TT genotype was associated with a significantly decreased risk of COPD when compared to the rs6495309 CC genotype (adjusted odds ratio = 0.69, 95% confidence interval = 0.50-0.95, P = 0.023). The effect of the rs6495309C > T on the risk of COPD was more evident in moderate to very severe COPD than in mild COPD under a dominant model for the variant T allele (P = 0.024 for homogeneity). The CHRNA3 rs6495309C > T polymorphism on chromosome 15q25 is associated with the risk of COPD in a Korean population.

Apoptosis plays an essential role in the elimination of mutated or transformed cells from the body. Therefore, polymorphisms of apoptosis-related genes may lead to an alteration in apoptotic capacity, thereby affecting the occurrence of TP53 mutations in lung cancer. We investigated the relationship between potentially functional polymorphisms of apoptosis-related genes and TP53 mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Twenty-seven single nucleotide polymorphisms in 20 apoptosis-related genes were genotyped by a sequenome mass spectrometry-based genotyping assay in 173 NSCLCs and the associations with TP53 mutations in the entire coding exons (exons 2-11), including splicing sites of the gene, were analyzed. None of the 27 polymorphisms was significantly associated with the occurrence of TP53 mutations. This suggests that apoptosis-related genes may not play an important role in the occurrence of TP53 mutations in lung cancer.