Active Surveillance for Multidrug-resistant Organisms

Abstract

Infections and outbreaks of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), have been increasing. Detection methods for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria have been changed from traditional culture methods to chromogenic media culture and molecular methods. Straintyping methods using various molecular technologies are essential tools for epidemiologic surveillance. Furthermore, outbreak detection, using syndromic surveillance as well as passive and active surveillance, has been applied. However, it is difficult to establish effective and robust guidelines and systems for using these various methods to control antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. Therefore, clinical microbiologists and policy makers must possess expertise in the control of antimicrobial resistant bacteria, discuss the issue sufficiently, and, finally, create a system to accomplish this control. (Ann Clin Microbiol 2013;16:53-60)

Genetic and phenotypic characterizations of drug‐resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Cheonan, Korea

“…3,4 As such, preventing the spread of MDR bacteria and monitoring and controlling large-scale infections is a priority for the medical community and has important implications for public health policy. 5 Diagnosing TB infection in hospitals requires the culture of MTB, for which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO recommend liquid medium. [6][7][8][9] The Korean Institute of Tuberculosis uses the absolute concentration method with Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium to determine the minimum drug concentration that can inhibit the growth of susceptible wild-type MTB strains isolated from treatment-naive patients as well as the resistance of 20 colonies to the same drug concentration as the standard.…”

“…As such, preventing the spread of MDR bacteria and monitoring and controlling large‐scale infections is a priority for the medical community and has important implications for public health policy . Diagnosing TB infection in hospitals requires the culture of MTB, for which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO recommend liquid medium .…”