Monitoring of antimicrobial resistance from non-tertiary care hospitals in Korea, 2007-2015


Kim Seung Hyun, Lee Kwang-Jun, Park Chan
Division of Antimicrobial Resistance, Center for Infectious Diseases Research, KNIH, KCDC

Background: The growing prevalence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria has become a serious worldwide problem. There has been an alarming rise in bacteria strains that have resistance to various antimicrobial agents and this has been reported in many parts around the world. This study analyzed the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance from non-tertiary care hospitals between 2007 and 2015.
Methodology/Results: Susceptibility data were collected from five commercial laboratories. Duplicate isolates were excluded from the analysis. The resistance rate of Oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ranged from 55 to 63%. The proportion of Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium was about 12-49%. Ceftazidime-resistant Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were 32% and 50% in 2015. Cefotaxime-resistant E. coli and K. pneumoniae were 34% and 51% in 2015. The resistant rates for Imipenem and for Meropenem on Pseudomonas aeruginosa increased from 26 to 44% and from 22 to 37%, respectively. The resistance rates for Imipenem and Meropenem on Acinetobacter baumannii were also considerably increased from 22 to 71% and from 49 to 77%, respectively.
Conclusion: Antimicrobial resistance surveillance studies are very important for monitoring the levels of endemic or emerging resistance. This surveillance system on non-tertiary hospitals will help to understand the current trends of bacterial resistance in Korea. The resistance rates of third generation Cephalosporin were gradually increased in E. coli and K. pneumoniae between 2007 and 2015. Additionally, it was noticed that the resistance rates for Carbapenem on P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii were significantly increased.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance, Non-tertiary hospitals, Prevalence, Bacteria species, Antimicrobial agents