Diagnosis and Characterization of Viral Infectious Disease Pathogens
Operation of a reliable infectious disease diagnostic testing system in public institutions
- The Division of Viral Diseases of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency conducts diagnostic test training, proficiency evaluation, and internal quality control for public health laboratories, such as regional response centers and city and provincial health and environment research institutes, to ensure the accuracy of tests.
- In cases where individuals undergo testing, they can visit a medical institution and request the examination to a public health laboratory based on the physician's judgment.
Types of diagnostic tests
- Gene detection test: Molecular diagnostics such as PCR detect the virus's genetic material
- Antibody detection test: It confirms infection status through immunoassays.
Target viruses for testing infections
- (Sexually transmitted) HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, etc
- (Vector-borne) Japanese encephalitis, West Nile fever, tick-borne encephalitis, yellow fever, Zika virus infection, dengue fever, chikungunya fever, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, etc.
- (Vaccination targets) Measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, etc.
- (Zoonotic) Rabies, etc.
Importance of pathogen characteristic analysis
- The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency analyzes the genetic types of infectious disease pathogens to identify new variants, drug resistance, and whether they are imported from abroad.
- Such analyses facilitate early detection of infectious diseases and understanding of outbreak patterns, which are utilized for the establishment of disease control policies and vaccination strategies.