First report of invasive liver abscess syndrome with endophthalmitis caused by a K2 serotype ST2398 hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae in Germany, 2016

C Pichler; M Büchsel; J W Rossen; M Vavra; S Reuter; W V Kern; R Thimme; A Mischnik

doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2017.02.006

First report of invasive liver abscess syndrome with endophthalmitis caused by a K2 serotype ST2398 hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae in Germany, 2016

New Microbes New Infect. 2017 Mar 3:17:77-80. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2017.02.006. eCollection 2017 May.

Authors

C Pichler¹, M Büchsel², J W Rossen³, M Vavra⁴, S Reuter⁵, W V Kern⁴, R Thimme¹, A Mischnik⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine II, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, Freiburg, Germany.
² Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, Freiburg, Germany.
³ Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁴ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine II, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, Freiburg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Infection Prevention and Hospital Hygiene, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, Freiburg, Germany.

Abstract

We report a case of severe infection with liver abscess and endophthalmitis caused by a hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae strain in an immunocompetent German male patient without travel history to Asia. Phenotypic and molecular characterization showed high similarity to the reference genome NTUH-K2044 isolated in Asia. The isolate was assigned as ST2398 (clonal complex 66). The findings underline global spread of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae strains to Europe.

Keywords: Endophthalmitis; Klebsiella pneumoniae; ST2398; hypervirulent; liver abscess.