Original Article Elmer ress J Clin Med Res • 2011;3(4):199-202 Epidemiological Aspects of Human Brucellosis and Leptospirosis Outbreaks in Korea Yangho Janga, Hyobi Kima, Hyung-Ae Bangb, Myong-jin Leec, Nong-hun Chea, Won-Chang Leea, d Abstract In order to compare the epidemiological aspects of human brucello- sis (HB) and human leptospirosis (HL) outbreaks in Korea, we have analyzed the current state both of the disease incidence and related risk factors. A total 651 cases of HB occurred between 2001 and 2010 in Korea, and the average incidence rate per 100,000 popula- tions was 0.15. A total 1,153 of HL cases occurred during the same period, and its rate was 0.24. While most of the HB prevalence occurred in the whole year round, prevalence in summer was more prominent for HB (p < 0.01), while outbreaks in autumn was more frequent for HL (p < 0.01). Geographical distribution HB cases were eastern and western regions of the rural (88.6% of total) in the Korean peninsula, showing higher outbreaks than other areas, while HL occurred in easterly regions (64.5%). Signiﬁcantly more males were infected in both HB (86.8%) and HL (59.5%) than those of fe- males in both HB (13.1%) and HL (41.1%), respectively (p < 0.01). The distribution by age groups were different between HB and HL, while the outbreaks over 62.1% of the cases of HB occurred in 40- to 59-year-old age group, and that of HL was clearly showing a high incidence in the elderly age over 60-year-old (59.6%) (p < 0.01). In both diseases, elderly people especially in famers showed a very high incidence rate (57.9% of HB and 52.2% of HL), which is pos- sible due to increased outdoor activities and a decreased number of young people in those areas. The occupational distribution of HB cases was famers, veterinarians, dairyman and others, and those of HL cases were broad. In conclusion, the difference between HB and HL risk factors reﬂects the different inﬂuence of host/vector, Manuscript accepted for publication July 4, 2011 aCollege of Veterinary Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul (143-760), Korea bCollege of Health Science, Korea University, Seoul (136-703), Korea cPublic health in Department of Nutritional Sciences, Otemae College of Nutrition, Osaka, Japan dCorresponding author: Won-Chang Lee, Email: lwcdvm@yahoo.co.kr doi:10.4021/jocmr630e climate, and geographical and environmental characteristics in the epidemiological patterns. Keywords: Human brucellosis and leptospirosis; Epidemic as- pects; Risk factors Introduction In recent years in Korea, human brucellosis (HB) and hu- man leptospirosis (HL) become the major zoonoses with a dramatic increase cases incidence in man. HB is one of the world’s major zoonoses that still of veterinarians, public health and economic concern in many parts of the world. Control of brucellosis in livestock is a prerequisite for the prevention of this disease in human beings [1, 2]. Many new, emerging and reemerging diseases of humans are caused by pathogen which originated from animals or products of ani- mal origin. A wide variety of animal species, both domestic and wild, act as reservoirs [3]. In Korea, bovine brucellosis, an infection with Brucella abortus, has been investigated in dairy cattle since 1956 [4], and that of HB in 2002 [5]. Lep- tospirosis is an infection in rodents and other wild domesti- cated species. Rodents are implication most often in human cases [6]. In case of Korea, after 1984 almost 100 cases of HL were annually reported of the rural in Korean peninsula. Therefore, HB and HL since it was classiﬁed and controlled as type 3 notiﬁable disease in “Communicable Disease Pre- vention Act of Korea” in 2000 [5]. In the present descriptive study, we investigated the epi- demiological aspects of HB and HL outbreaks in Korea, and compared the risk factors between HB and HL during the period of 2001 to 2010. Methods The raw data on investigation and conﬁrmed HB and HL cases in Korea were obtained from the Annual Reports of HB and HL in “Disease Web Statistics System” from 2001 to 2010, Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention Articles © The authors | Journal compilation © J Clin Med Res and Elmer Press™ | www.jocmr.org 199