National Alert System for Critical Antimicrobial Resistances (CARAlert)

CARAlert collects, analyses and reports on nationally agreed priority organisms with critical resistances to last-line antimicrobials.

Latest Annual Report

The 2023 CARAlert annual report was released in May 2024 and reveals the latest data on critical antimicrobial resistances (CARs) in Australia.

CARAlert Annual Report: 2023

2024

Publication, report or update

Overview

CARAlert was established by the Commission in 2016, and identifies seasonal and geographic trends in critical antimicrobial resistances (CARs) – these are critical resistance mechanisms or profiles that are uncommon in Australia and known to be a serious threat to the effectiveness of last-line antimicrobial agents.

Participating public and private laboratories across Australia voluntarily submit data on confirmed CARs to CARAlert. These data support infection prevention and control responses for potential outbreaks.

The CARs that are reported to CARAlert are outlined in the table below.

Species	Critical resistance
Acinetobacter baumannii complex*	Carbapenemase-producing
Candida auris
Enterobacterales	Carbapenemase-producing, and/or ribosomal methyltransferase-producing
	Transmissible colistin resistance
Enterococcus species	Linezolid-resistant
Mycobacterium tuberculosis	Multidrug-resistant – resistant to at least rifampicin and isoniazid
Neisseria gonorrhoeae	Ceftriaxone- and/or azithromycin-nonsusceptible
	Gentamicin-resistant
Neisseria meningitidis	Ciprofloxacin-nonsusceptible
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Carbapenemase-producing
Salmonella species	Ceftriaxone-nonsusceptible
Shigella species	Multidrug-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus complex^†	Vancomycin- or linezolid-nonsusceptible
Streptococcus pyogenes	Penicillin-reduced susceptibility

^{* For CARAlert,}^{A. baumannii}^{complex includes}^{A. baumannii}^,^{A. calcoaceticus}^,^{A. dijkshoorniae}^,^{A. nosocomialis}^,^A. pittii^and^{A. seifertii}
^{† For CARAlert,}^{S. aureus}^complex^includes^{S. argenteus, S. aureus}^and^{S. schweitzeri}