"ICMR Study Finds Carbapenem Resistance Driving Excess Hospital Mortality in India"
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
ability of microbes to survive drugs designed to kill them, making infections harder to treat
Carbapenem
a class of last-resort antibiotics used when other drugs have failed against Gram-negative bacteria
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites evolve mechanisms to survive drugs that once killed them. For bacteria specifically, antibiotic resistance emerges through natural selection: bacteria with genetic mutations that confer survival advantage multiply, passing resistance traits to offspring and even to neighbouring bacteria through horizontal gene transfer. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified AMR as one of the top ten global public health threats.
India faces a particularly acute AMR burden. The country has high rates of infectious disease, widespread over-the-counter antibiotic sales without prescription, and significant antibiotic use in livestock and agriculture. The National Action Plan on AMR (2017–2021), aligned with the WHO Global Action Plan, committed India to surveillance, stewardship, and infection prevention. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) runs the primary AMR surveillance network, collecting resistance data from tertiary-care hospitals across the country. Carbapenems are a class of last-resort antibiotics used when other drugs have failed; resistance to them leaves clinicians with very few treatment options.
The 2019 UPSC Prelims question on multi-drug resistance correctly identified antibiotic misuse in humans and livestock farming as the two primary drivers, a finding this new ICMR study reinforces while also adding a third, often underappreciated dimension: failures in infection prevention within healthcare settings.
Carbapenem-resistant bacteria belong to a group called Gram-negative pathogens. The four organisms studied, E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are responsible for a large share of hospital-acquired infections worldwide. Carbapenems work by disrupting bacterial cell-wall synthesis; resistance typically arises through enzymes called carbapenemases (such as NDM-1, first identified in India) that break down the antibiotic before it can act.
AMR is not simply a product of antibiotic overuse. It results from a complex interaction of four factors: antibiotic selection pressure (overuse and misuse), poor infection-control practices within hospitals, transmission of resistant strains between patients through healthcare workers and devices, and delayed or inaccurate diagnosis that prolongs inappropriate treatment. …
Which of the following are the reasons for the occurrence of multi-drug resistance in microbial pathogens in India?
1.Genetic predisposition of some people
2.Taking incorrect doses of antibiotics to cure diseases
3.Using antibiotics in livestock farming
4.Multiple chronic diseases in some people
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Why is there so much activity in the field of biotechnology in our country? How has this activity benefitted the field of biopharma?
Consider the following statements regarding antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in India, based on recent ICMR surveillance data:
1.More than 61% of Gram-negative infections in tertiary-care hospitals were carbapenem-resistant.
2.More than 85% of bloodstream infections were healthcare-associated rather than community-acquired.
3.Genetic predisposition of patients is a primary driver of multi-drug resistance in microbial pathogens.
4.Carbapenem resistance was associated with a higher risk of death across all four major Gram-negative pathogens studied.
How many of the above statements are correct?
With reference to carbapenem-resistant infections in India, consider the following statements:
1.Carbapenems are first-line antibiotics used at the start of treatment for common bacterial infections.
2.NDM-1 (New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase-1) is a carbapenemase enzyme first identified in a patient treated in India.
3.Healthcare-associated bloodstream infections accounted for more than 85% of bloodstream infections in the ICMR AMR study.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Consider the following statements about the ICMR antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance study conducted across tertiary-care hospitals in India:
1.The study covered patients across 20 tertiary-care hospitals over a three-year period.
2.The antibiotic Ceftazidime-avibactam was associated with better outcomes in some carbapenem-resistant infections.
3.The study found that antibiotic overuse alone is sufficient to explain the high carbapenem-resistance rates observed.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Match the following carbapenem-resistant pathogens with their approximate mortality rates in bloodstream infections, as found in the ICMR AMR surveillance study (2022–2025):
List I (Pathogen) — List II (Approximate Mortality)
A.Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii — 1. ~39%
B.Resistant Escherichia coli — 2. ~51%
C.Carbapenemase enzyme first identified in India — 3. NDM-1
D.Antibiotic class to which resistance was studied — 4. Carbapenem
The ICMR AMR surveillance study (2022–2025) found that the economic cost of treating carbapenem-resistant infections was higher than treating susceptible infections. Which of the following correctly describes the cost comparison methodology used in the study?
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