DOI: 10.1017/ice.2026.10520 ISSN: 0899-823X

Growing carbapenem resistance in South Korea with long-term care facilities as reservoirs

Rafael Levandowski, Tae Yoon Hwang, Kyeong-Soo Lee

Abstract

South Korean CRE notifications more than doubled between 2020 and 2024, with no inflection in the trajectory. Imipenem resistance in long-term care facilities reached 52.3% for Klebsiella pneumoniae and a 12.93-fold higher risk ratio than small/medium hospitals for Escherichia coli . Current surveillance cannot identify individual facility reservoirs, requiring structural reform.

More from our Archive