Press Release by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency

KDCA published the 2022 Annual Report of National Culture Collection for Pathogens

As of the end of 2022, a total of 7,224 strains of 935 pathogen species are registered in the NCCP. In 2022, 1,294 strains of 190 pathogen species were newly collected while 661 strains of 172 pathogen species were newly registered in the "Register for Preservation and Management of Pathogen Resources".

A total of 4,925 strains of 187 pathogen species were distributed to and utilized by domestic health and medical research and industrial institutions in 2022.  

Osong, 1^st May, 2023 - The National Culture Collection for Pathogens (NCCP)[1] announced the publication of the 2022 Annual Report of National Culture Collection for Pathogens.

The NCCP is established and operated in accordance with Article 8 of the "Act on the Promotion of Collection, Management, and Utilization of Pathogen Resources". Under the "Public Notice of Operation and Management of the NCCP", the NCCP has built a cooperative network with related organizations and undertook its tasks including pathogen acquisition, resourceization and distribution. 

The 2022 report introduced the list of pathogen resources that were collected, deposited, newly registered and distributed in 2022 and the NCCP's major annual accomplishments such as an increase in the number of organizations that deposit, register and preserve pathogen resources, the establishment of its implementation plans and the amendment of regulations and guidelines involved. The report also included the results of research works which were designed to ameliorate the characteristics of pathogen resources with an aim to make them highly value-added and the outcomes concerning the international cooperation and promotion[2] as well as the utilization of distributed resources.

According to the report, the pathogen resources were the most widely distributed for the purpose of diagnostic technology research throughout the year of 2022. The two most distributed bacteria were Escherichia coli and Salmonella genus, while the most distributed fungus was Candida genus. SARS-CoV-2 (Betacoronavirus genus) was the most distributed virus.

Youngmee Jee, Commissioner of KDCA, said, “The 2022 annual report is expected to contribute to facilitating research works associated with diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics and other related products that essentially utilize pathogen resources by sharing how the NCCP is operated with academic researchers and stakeholders involved in the food, drug and bio industries”.

The annual report is expected to be distributed to related organizations in paper and electric format at the beginning of May and be available at the NCCP official website (https://nccp.kdca.go.kr/main.do).