Drug-Resistant Bacteria Widely Prevalent in Kerala: AMR Surveillance Report 2025

Gist The Kerala Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network KARS-Net has released its 2025 antibiogram , revealing that antimicrobial resistance AMR is no longer confined to intensive care units but is now deeply entrenched across regular hospital wards and community settings in the State. The data highlights a dangerous normalisation of drug-resistant bacteria, including common community-acquired pathogens like Shigella. For civil services aspirants, this highlights a critical public health crisis where routine infections are becoming untreatable, while simultaneously showcasing Kerala's robust surveillance infrastructure as a potential model for nationwide AMR containment. Background Antimicrobial Resistance AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread. KARS-Net is the state-level surveillance network coordinated by the Department of Microbiology at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram , operational since 2019 . The State has been implementing a dedicated AMR containment strategy for the past seven years, transitioning from fragmented, hospital-specific data to a unified statewide reporting system. Kerala's system does not exist in a silo; it is integrated…