Summary: The problem of drug resistance in bacterial infections affects the whole world and has been recognized by the WHO as a "global threat requiring comprehensive action at the level of governments and societes". Antibiotic resistance is a rapidly progressing process leading to a significant increase in deaths from bacterial infections. Alert pathogens defined as biological pathogens of particular virulence or resistance require monitoring and reporting which is carried out in most hospitals.
Long-term care facilities, which are one of the main sources of alarm pathogens, have an epidemiologically unregulated le-gal situation ‒ it concerns only state-owned entities, which are few in comparison to the growing number of private institutions. Private nursing homes are created in response to the needs of an aging Polish society. Regardless of whether the facilities belong to the private or public sector, the question should be asked whether, in terms of epidemiology, they resemble hospitals (a large number of people with mulitiple diseases in one place, the presence of medical staff, the prevalence of antibiotics, frequent hospitalisations) or family homes (long term stay, condictions similar to home, frequent presence of many family members).