Original article Suyeon Jo, Byoungkuk Kim, Boyeong Kwon, Kwanghyun Kim, Minhyeok Kim, Kihyung Park Department of Laboratory Medicine, Seegene Medical Foundation, Busan, Korea Correspondence to Suyeon Jo E-mail: freedom96@naver.com; Kihyung Park E-mail: p0413@mf.seegene.com Ann Clin Microbiol 2026;29(1):4. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2026.29.1.4Received on 12 January 2026, Revised on 26 February 2026, Accepted on 27 February 2026, Published on 11 March 2026.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.This is an Open Access article which is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Abstract Background: Pathogenic Escherichia coli (PEC) is a leading cause of acute diarrhea worldwide. With increasing antibiotic use, antimicrobial resistance in PEC has become a significant public health concern. In this study, we investigated the distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of PEC isolated from patients with acute diarrhea in the Busan and Gyeongnam regions of South Korea. Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional laboratory-based study, 272 PCR-positive residual

Original article Eun-Young Kim1, Yeon Chan Choi1, Hyeon Jin Choi1, Si Hyun Kim2, Jihyun Cho3, Seok Hoon Jeong4, Dokyun Kim4, Hyun Soo Kim5, Soo Hyun Kim6, Young Ah Kim7, Young Ree Kim8, Nam Hee Ryoo9, Jong Hee Shin6, Kyeong Seob Shin10, Young Uh11, Jeong Hwan Shin1 1Department of Laboratory Medicine and Paik Institute for Clinical Research, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea2Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Inje University, Gimhae, Korea.3Department of Laboratory Medicine, Wonkwang University Medical School, Iksan, Korea4Department of Laboratory Medicine and Research Institute of Bacterial Resistance, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea5Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Hwaseong, Korea6Department of Laboratory Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea7Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea8Department of Laboratory Medicine, Jeju National University College of Medicine, Jeju, Korea9Department of Laboratory Medicine, Keimyung University School

Original article Young Ah Kim1, Jae Kwang Lee2, Hee Kyoung Choi3 1Department of Laboratory Medicine, 2Research Center, 3Department of Infectious Disease, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea Correspondence to Young Ah Kim, E-mail: yakim@nhimc.or.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2025 December;28(4):20. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2025.28.4.1Received on 22 July 2025, Revised on 21 October 2025, Accepted on 23 October 2025, Published on 20 November 2025.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.This is an Open Access article which is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Abstract Background: Diagnostic tests are essential for accurate disease identification and monitoring treatment responses. This study aimed to assess the factors influencing the requests for microbial diagnostic tests in patients with various infections. Methods: Using tailored data from the National Health Insurance Big Data, we examined the usage patterns of microbiological tests among patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and major bacterial infections between 2020

Original article Yeon Chan Choi1*, Eun-Young Kim1*, Hyun Jin Choi1, Si Hyun Kim2, Eunkyoung You1, Ja Young Lee1, Jihyun Cho3, Seok Hoon Jeong4, Dokyun Kim4, Hyun Soo Kim5, Soo Hyun Kim6, Young Ah Kim7, Young Ree Kim8, Nam Hee Ryoo9, Jong Hee Shin10, Kyeong Seob Shin11, Young Uh12, Jeong Hwan Shin1 1Department of Laboratory Medicine and Paik Institute for Clinical Research, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea2Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Inje University, Gimhae, Korea3Department of Laboratory Medicine, Wonkwang University Medical School, Iksan, Korea4Department of Laboratory Medicine and Research Institute of Bacterial Resistance, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea5Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Hwaseong, Korea6Department of Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea7Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea8Department of Laboratory Medicine, Jeju National University College of Medicine, Jeju,

Original article Young Ah Kim1, Jaekwang Lee2, Sunmin Lee3 Departments of 1Laboratory Medicine, 2Research and Analysis, 3Pulmonology Medicine, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea Correspondence to Young Ah Kim, E-mail: yakim@nhimc.or.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2025;28(3):12. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2025.28.3.1Received on 17 March 2025, Revised on 12 May 2025, Accepted on 15 May 2025, Published on 24 July 2025.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.This is an Open Access article which is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Abstract Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has pushed back years of progress that essential tuberculosis (TB) medical services provided in reducing the burden of TB. This study evaluated the clinical impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB management based on treatment discontinuation and mortality rates. Methods: Two time intervals were included in this study: before the spread of COVID-19 (2018–2019) and during the pandemic phase of COVID-19

Review article Hyun Joo Jung Department of Pediatrics, Ajou University School of Medicine, Ajou University Hospital, Suwon, Korea Correspondence to Hyun Joo Jung, E-mail: free1109@ajou.ac.kr This article is a secondary publication of the original work published in Korean in the Korean Journal of Healthcare-associated Infection Control and Prevention (2024;29(2):110–115, https://doi.org/10.14192/kjicp.2024.29.2.110). This English version has been translated and published in Annals of Clinical Microbiology with the permission of the editors of both the Korean Journal of Healthcare-associated Infection Control and Prevention and the Annals of Clinical Microbiology. This secondary publication complies with the conditions set forth in the “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and serves to enhance accessibility and value by making the content available to a broader international readership through English translation. Ann Clin Microbiol 2025;28(2):8. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2025.28.2.2Received on 15 May 2025, Revised

Original article Kwangjin Ahn1, Hyunju Choi1, Taesic Lee2, Young Uh1 1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea2Department of Family Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea Correspondence to Young Uh, E-mail: u931018@yonsei.ac.kr Ann Clin Microbiol 2025;28(2):7. https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2025.28.2.1Received on 4 March 2025, Revised on 7 April 2025, Accepted on 14 April 2025, Published on 19 May 2025.Copyright © Korean Society of Clinical Microbiology.This is an Open Access article which is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Abstract Background: Identifying Bacillus spp. and performing antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) is challenging because of their diversity and limited clinical laboratory resources. We investigated the isolation frequency and antimicrobial susceptibility of Bacillus spp. over a 4-year period. Methods: Bacillus isolates collected between 2020 and 2024 were identified using matrixassisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, and AST was performed using