key: cord-0882068-u7yrcto7 authors: Jung, Kyung Sook; Jang, Yu Mi; Hwang, Ji Hye; Park, Gi Jun; Son, Tae Jong title: Risk of Water and Food-Borne Communicable Diseases in Travelers Entering Korea date: 2019-08-03 journal: Osong Public Health Res Perspect DOI: 10.24171/j.phrp.2019.10.4.03 sha: 4b9e5d0ffdac80fba0ea840f8f14e359ad4c43f1 doc_id: 882068 cord_uid: u7yrcto7 OBJECTIVES: It was supposed to analyze status and affecting factors in water and food-borne communicable disease by screening entrants with diarrhea symptom at the point of entry in Korea METHODS: Symptomatic travelers with water and food-borne communicable diseases who entered Korea were diagnosed by a health declaration and detection of causative agents in water and food using laboratory tests. Among those entered in 2017, the affecting factors in the incidence of communicable diseases among those who had diarrhea at the entry into Korea, were analyzed, with frequency and chi-square test. RESULTS: The number of travel entrants with gastrointestinal communicable diseases increased by 40.19% from 2013 to 2017. The percentage of causative agents of water and food-borne communicable diseases was the highest at 69.2% from July to September. The rate of detection of causative agents of communicable disease pathogens in travelers from Southeast Asia entering Korea was 70.2%, which was higher than people arriving from East Asia and Central Asia (57.5%; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The positive ratio of causative agents of water and food-borne communicable diseases was high among travelers that had entered Korea from July to September, with a high number among entrants from Southeast Asia. Based on the positive detection of causative agents, the entry period and countries visited were statistically significant affecting factors (p < 0.001). The major communicable diseases that have been reported to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) are dengue fever, malaria, hepatitis A, shigellosis and Zika virus [7] . In recent times, the number of cases of shigellosis (a Category 1 in Communicable Diseases Prevention Act), is increasing. The incidence rate of shigellosis is high among travelers from Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Philippines, and India [8] . Among 192 cases of shigellosis reported to the KCDC in 2018, 146 cases (76.0%) had been infected from abroad. This means that there has been a 2.1-fold increase in cases from the 69 cases of shigellosis reported in 2017 [9] . The number of water and food-borne (WFB) communicable diseases (such as shigellosis, cholera, typhoid, paratyphoid, Enterohemorrhagic E. there were 159 cases reported, which was 3.4-times higher than the number of cases reported in the previous year [10] . Using data from the quarantine information system in KCDC, this study surveyed the health status of travelers entered Korea who were quarantined during 2013 to 2017 because they had symptoms of communicable disease. The incidence status and its related factors of overseas WFB communicable diseases were analyzed. In this study, cases of fever, diarrhea and respiratory symptoms among people quarantined within the period 2013-2017 were confirmed. Causative agents of WFB communicable disease were determined using laboratory tests at the point of entry and related factors affecting gastrointestinal WFB communicable diseases were analyzed. Table 1 ). countries [12, 13] . Travelers' diarrhea is a symptom of eating infected food and to a lesser extent drinking unclean water [14, 15] . Globally, 30-70% of travelers experience diarrhea during travel, and usually have bacterial pathogens such as E. coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Shigella spp., and Salmonella spp. These are major causes of diarrhea symptoms in travelers [16, 17] . The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Korea Immigration Service Statistics Study on Analysis of Quarantine Legislations and Systems in Australia for Building an Integrative Quarantine System Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Typhoid fever, shigellosis during traveling Southeast Asia Global Epidemiology of Diseases and Travel Medicine Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Standard operating procedure for overseas infectious disease in quarantine Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Yearbook of infectious disease surveillance Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. 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