The latest Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report — from its Antimicrobial Resistance Research & Surveillance Network (AMRSN) — reveals a stark rise in antibiotic-resistant infections across tertiary hospitals in India. The 2024 surveillance covered 99,027 culture-positive isolates from varied clinical specimens such as blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid and respiratory tract samples
The data showed that Gram-negative bacteria remained the most commonly isolated pathogens from critical clinical samples — including blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and respiratory specimens — confirming their dominant role in hospital-acquired infections.
Among bloodstream infections (BSI) in healthcare settings, Gram-negative bacteria accounted for 72.1% of all cases, underlining the extent of their contribution to serious infections. Fungal pathogens were responsible for 10.2% of BSI cases, while Gram-positive organisms made up the remaining 17.7%.
Major pathogens identified in the surveillance included Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii — along with some Gram-positive bacteria.
The report identifies that these pathogens frequently cause serious hospital-associated infections, such as bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).
In cases of VAP, pathogens like Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii together constituted nearly 80% of causative agents. Because the 2024 report is based on data from tertiary-care hospitals only, ICMR cautions that the findings reflect hospital settings and should not be generalised to community-level infections.
The 2024 data from ICMR AMRSN underscores a severe and growing threat from drug-resistant infections in Indian hospitals — especially those caused by Gram-negative bacteria.
The dominance of pathogens such as E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii in bloodstream and ventilator-associated infections raises urgent concerns over treatment options.
The high share of Gram-negative bacteria in BSIs (72.1%) and their prevalence in VAP cases highlight that standard antibiotic regimens may no longer suffice for many hospital-acquired infections.
These findings point to a critical juncture for Indian healthcare: without strengthened antibiotic-resistance surveillance, stringent infection-control practices, and updated treatment protocols based on real-time data from networks such as AMRSN, hospitals may face increasingly limited ability to treat serious infections.
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