With fall just around the corner, concerns are once again rising of a possible “twindemic” -- a COVID-19 pandemic coupled with flu endemic -- which never materialized last year. In Korea and across the Northern Hemisphere, the last flu season, which would have taken off around November and run through spring, was almost non-existent. Widespread behavioral changes such as crowd avoidance, hand h...

The pandemic has opened up a window of opportunity for South Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies to advance to the global stage. Several local players posted strong earnings by exporting self-developed test kits to foreign countries and secured contract manufacturing deals for COVID-19 vaccines. As a result, the number of pharmaceutical and biotech firms with sales exceeding 1 trillion ...

Vaccinations for people aged 17 to 49 will start Monday, as South Korea struggles to clamp down a fourth wave of the coronavirus. The upcoming vaccine roll out will be crucial in the country’s plan to reach herd immunity by November, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said, as it covers over 16 million people considered the most socially active among all age groups. Eligible are th...

Why leaders need to crack down on toxic work culture

The study suggests that the weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) of viewers who watch meokbang for more than 14 hours a week are remarkably high. Eating habits and preference of food also have a correlation with watching meokbang. People who watch meokbang for more than 14 hours a week are prone to preferring carbohydrate-rich foods, while people watching meokbang for less than 7 hours per week have ...

South Korean researchers became the world’s first to discover a gene variant that causes a rare type of hearing impairment whose origins had so far remained unknown. The newly identified gene will help doctors better treat patients with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder, or ANSD, and to find out if their condition can be improved through surgery, according to Dr. Choi Byung-yoon, Seoul Natio...

Having more than three cups of coffee a day can help those in their 40s or older live longer, researchers from Chung-Ang University found in a study with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The study was conducted on 110,920 individuals older than 40. Scientists tracked the patients’ daily coffee intake and death rate for an average of 9.1 years. Individuals already diagnosed with d...

South Korea's drug safety agency said Friday that it has begun reviewing a plasma therapy treatment against the novel coronavirus by local biotech company GC Pharma for conditional approval. The plasma therapy, dubbed GC5131A, is a type of hyperimmune globulin drug that uses blood plasma taken from people who have fully recovered from COVID-19, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. ...

If vaccines other than AstraZeneca’s are available for young people, South Korean health authorities may want to consider an alternative, said Dr. Jean-Louis Excler, a vaccinologist at the International Vaccine Institute, as more countries limit the use of the vaccine to older people over blood clot concerns. Excler, who is also part of the vaccine safety working group within COVAX, a global bod...

Head of state-run support program talks opportunities, challenges facing local firms trying to introduce new approaches to treat diseases

South Korea’s top hematologist says Korea must exercise due caution with AstraZeneca vaccinations until there is a better understanding of the unusual blood clot events being reported here and elsewhere among recipients. “By caution I don’t mean vaccinations should stop, not when we don’t have other vaccines in stock. But we need to proactively monitor people receiving the vaccine and treat any ...

Research shows 10 sessions can relieve insomnia

Ex-KCDC chief makes case for protecting socially vulnerable to fight COVID-19 better

Young people in South Korea eat too much sugar from processed food, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Wednesday, citing the World Health Organization’s recommendations. Using data from a health and nutrition survey conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the Food Ministry looked into the daily sugar consumption patterns of some 7,000 Koreans in 2018. The daily suga...

A kitten became the first pet to be confirmed infected with the novel coronavirus in South Korea on Sunday. The authorities tested three cats -- a mother and her two kittens -- at a prayer house in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, after both of their owners were diagnosed with the disease and had to be taken elsewhere for care. The kitten is now at a pet hotel and being cared for by an animal ...