[Antimicrobial Resistance of Campylobacter jejuni Isolates in the Republic of Korea, 2017-2021].

Campylobacter is known as one of the representative Intestinal infectious disease. Antimicrobial-resistant Campylobacter has been confirmed to continuously increase, becoming a global health problem. Campylobacter strains in the Republic of Korea (ROK) particularly showed a high rate of quinolone resistance compared to America, Europe, and other countries, raising concerns about quinolone-resistant Campylobacter. This study identified antimicrobial resistance and analyzed trends in Campylobacter jejuni 676 isolates collected from domestic acute and group diarrhea patients from 2017 to 2021. As a result, Campylobacter jejuni isolated in ROK over the past 5 years was confirmed to have a high rate of resistance to nalidixic acid (NAL) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) (quinolones) agents at 84.9% and 84.6%, respectively. Additionally, the tetracycline (TET)-resistance rate increased by 20.3%p, from 16.0% in 2017 to 36.3% in 2021. However, resistance to macrolides, which is recommended as a treatment for Campylobacteriosis, was confirmed only in 1–2 isolates per year, and resistance to other classes of antibiotics was not confirmed. The major antibiotic resistance profiles were NAL-CIP in 393 isolates (58.1%), NAL-CIP-TET in 167 isolates (24.7%), and multidrug resistance (≥3 classes) in 4 isolates (0.6%). By region, at least 76% showed CIP resistance, except for regions where pathogen isolation was not reported. These results suggested that quinolone-resistant Campylobacter could emerge as an increasingly serious public health threat in ROK. And it can be used for the prevention and management of national antibiotic-resistant infections.