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. 2018 Oct;23(42):1800047.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2018.23.42.1800047.

Antimicrobial resistance of major clinical pathogens in South Korea, May 2016 to April 2017: first one-year report from Kor-GLASS

Affiliations

Antimicrobial resistance of major clinical pathogens in South Korea, May 2016 to April 2017: first one-year report from Kor-GLASS

Hyukmin Lee et al. Euro Surveill. 2018 Oct.

Abstract

The Korean government established an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance system, compatible with the Global AMR Surveillance System (GLASS): Kor-GLASS. We describe results from the first year of operation of the Kor-GLASS from May 2016 to April 2017, comprising all non-duplicated clinical isolates of major pathogens from blood, urine, faeces and urethral and cervical swabs from six sentinel hospitals. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were carried out by disk diffusion, Etest, broth microdilution and agar dilution methods. Among 67,803 blood cultures, 3,523 target pathogens were recovered. The predominant bacterial species were Escherichia coli (n = 1,536), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 597) and Staphylococcus aureus (n = 584). From 57,477 urine cultures, 6,394 E. coli and 1,097 K. pneumoniae were recovered. Bloodstream infections in inpatients per 10,000 patient-days (10TPD) were highest for cefotaxime-resistant E. coli with 2.1, followed by 1.6 for meticillin-resistant Sta. aureus, 1.1 for imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, 0.8 for cefotaxime-resistant K. pneumoniae and 0.4 for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium. Urinary tract infections in inpatients were 7.7 and 2.1 per 10TPD for cefotaxime-resistant E. coli and K. pneumoniae, respectively. Kor-GLASS generated well-curated surveillance data devoid of collection bias or isolate duplication. A bacterial bank and a database for the collections are under development.

Keywords: Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System; antimicrobial resistance; bloodstream infection; gastroenteritis; multi-drug resistance; urinary tract infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of patients sampled for bacterial culture, by specimen and age group, South Korea, May 2016–April 2017
Figure 2
Figure 2
Occurrence of bloodstream and urinary tract infections per 10,000 patient-days, by target pathogen, South Korea, May 2016–April 2017 (total patient days = 1,620,431)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage of resistance to major antimicrobials by infection origin, South Korea, May 2016–April 2017 (Part I: panels A–F)
Figure 4
Figure 4
Percentage of resistance to major antimicrobials by infection origin, South Korea, May 2016–April 2017 (Part II: panels G–L)
Figure 5
Figure 5
Occurrence of bloodstream and urinary tract infections per 10,000 patient-days, by major antimicrobial resistant pathogen, South Korea, May 2016–April 2017 (total patient days = 1,620,431)

References

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