Procedure for responding to disease outbreaks of unexplained etiology

Kim Eun Kyoung, Moon Sangjun, Lee Sangwon
Division of Public Health Emergency Management, Center for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, KCDC

According to the implementing rule 16-2 and article 18-2 under the infectious disease prevention and control act, physicians or heads of medical institutions can request the director of Korea Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (KCDC) to conduct epidemiological investigations into disease outbreaks of unexplained etiology. There have been events such as an unknown respiratory illnesses in a university laboratory in 2015 and an unknown disease among university students in 2018. Besides the reports from medical personnel, the KCDC has operated an event-based surveillance system, including the 1339 call, and press releases to collect information on public health hazards or events across the country. In the case a local government requests a epidemiological investigation into unexplained events, the situational judgement committee make an confirmation and assesment of the events, and then decides whether building joint response teams, conducting an investigation, and taking control measures are required, based on situational analysis. In the case of having difficulty to tell infectious disease events from non­infectious events, the precautionary measures applicable to the cases of similar infectious disease outbreak are recommended to be taken, taking into account the potential risks of public health. The KCDC has maintained more efficient communication channel for rapid identification and joint response to unexplained public health hazards or events in multi-sectoral collaboration with other ministries.

Keyword: Unexplained etiology, Outbreak, Epidemiological investigation, Public health event