KDCA Expands 'Acute Respiratory Bacterial Surveillance Project' to Adults Starting This Month

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on the 3rd that it will operate a pilot project expanding the 'Acute Respiratory Bacterial Pathogen Surveillance Project' to include adults starting this month, aiming to analyze the characteristics of pathogens causing respiratory infections.

Front view of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. [Photo by Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency]

KDCA operates the surveillance project annually with the participation of 31 medical institutions nationwide. The respiratory bacteria under surveillance include 12 species such as Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. The project analyzes the epidemic status and antibiotic resistance characteristics of bacteria isolated from patients with acute respiratory infections in Korea to provide scientific evidence for infectious disease prevention and management.

Last year, through this project, a total of 92 strains of 5 bacterial species were isolated: 35 strains of Staphylococcus aureus, 25 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, 23 strains of Moraxella, 8 strains of Pseudomonas, and 1 strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Most of the isolated respiratory bacteria were susceptible to the majority of antibiotics, but resistance to some antibiotics (beta-lactams and cephems) was confirmed. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Pseudomonas also showed resistance to certain antibiotics (macrolides and tetracyclines).

In particular, antibiotic resistance in respiratory bacteria limits the selection of antibiotics available for patient treatment, making continuous surveillance of respiratory infection pathogens and analysis of changes in pathogen characteristics important.

Through specimens collected in this project, KDCA plans to analyze bacterial pathogen isolation status by age group, pathogen antibiotic resistance, serological and molecular epidemiological information, and link these analyses with patients' clinical information. Director Ji Young-mi stated, "We will strive to promptly identify the epidemic patterns and changes of acute respiratory infections and continuously cooperate with participating medical institutions in the surveillance project to provide infectious disease information based on scientific evidence."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.