Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) Australian Gram-negative Surveillance Outcome Program (GnSOP) Bloodstream Infection Annual Report 2024

Authors

  • Ms Jan M Bell Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory, Australia
  • Dr Alicia Fajardo Lubian Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • A/Prof Sally R Partridge Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Westmead Hospital, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia
  • A/Prof Thomas Gottlieb The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Concord Hospital, Concord, New South Wales, Australia
  • Dr Jennifer Robson Department of Microbiology, Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Bowen Hills, Queensland
  • Prof Jonathan R Iredell Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Westmead Hospital, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia
  • Ms Denise A Daley Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
  • Prof Geoffrey W Coombs Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia; School of Medical, Molecular and Forensic Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia; Department of Microbiology, PathWest Laboratory Medicine-WA, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2025.49.055

Keywords:

Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR), antimicrobial resistance, bacteraemia, gram-negative, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter, Klebsiella

Abstract

The Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) performs regular period-prevalence studies to monitor changes in antimicrobial resistance in selected enteric gram-negative pathogens. From 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024, fifty-five hospitals across Australia participated in the Australian Gram-negative Surveillance Outcome Program (GnSOP).

A total of 10,340 isolates, comprising Enterobacterales (9,376; 90.9%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (804; 7.7%) and Acinetobacter species (160; 1.4%), were tested using commercial automated methods. The results were analysed using European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) breakpoints (January 2025). Key resistances reported are to the third-generation cephalosporin ceftriaxone in 14.9% of Escherichia coli and 10.5% of Klebsiella pneumoniae complex isolates. Resistance rates to ciprofloxacin were 15.4% for E. coli; 9.7% for the K. pneumoniae complex; 3.8% for the Enterobacter cloacae complex; and 8.8% for P. aeruginosa. Resistance rates to piperacillin–tazobactam were 7.5%, 10.3%, 25.2%, and 13.6% for the same four species/complexes, respectively. Thirty-nine Enterobacterales isolates from 38 patients were shown to harbour a carbapenemase gene: 21 with a blaNDM gene (blaNDM-5 [8]; blaNDM-1 [7]; blaNDM-7 [6]); eight with blaIMP-4; four with a blaOXA-181-like gene (blaOXA-181 [2]; blaOXA-484 [1]; blaOXA-1205 [1]); three with a blaOXA-48-like gene (blaOXA-48 [2]; blaOXA-244); two with blaKPC-2; and one with blaNDM-5 + blaOXA-484. Carbapenemase genes were also detected in two P. aeruginosa isolates (blaNDM-1 [1]; blaGES-5 [1]).

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Bell JM, Fajardo Lubian A, Partridge SR, Gottlieb T, Robson J, Iredell JR et al. Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) Australian Gram-negative Surveillance Outcome Program (GnSOP) Bloodstream Infection Annual Report 2022. Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2023;47. doi: https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2023.47.69.

Bell JM, Fajardo Lubian A, Partridge SR, Gottlieb T, Robson J, Iredell JR et al. Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) Australian Gram-negative Surveillance Outcome Program (GnSOP) Bloodstream Infection Annual Report 2023. Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2025;49. doi: https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2025.49.003.

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Published

18/11/25

How to Cite

Bell, Jan, Alicia Fajardo Lubian, Sally Partridge, Thomas Gottlieb, Jennifer Robson, Jonathan Iredell, Denise Daley, and Geoffrey Coombs. 2025. “Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) Australian Gram-Negative Surveillance Outcome Program (GnSOP) Bloodstream Infection Annual Report 2024”. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 49 (November). https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2025.49.055.

Issue

Vol. 49 (2025)

Section

Annual report

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