Keeping alert to the hypervirulent K1, K2, K3, K5, K54 and K57 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae within dairy production process

Qianhui Ma; Zhaoxuan Zhu; Yue Liu; Jia Wang; Zihao Pan; Huochun Yao; Jiale Ma

doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2023.105106

Keeping alert to the hypervirulent K1, K2, K3, K5, K54 and K57 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae within dairy production process

Microbes Infect. 2023 Jun;25(5):105106. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2023.105106. Epub 2023 Jan 28.

Authors

Qianhui Ma¹, Zhaoxuan Zhu¹, Yue Liu¹, Jia Wang¹, Zihao Pan², Huochun Yao², Jiale Ma³

Affiliations

¹ MOE Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
² MOE Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; Key Lab of Animal Bacteriology, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210095, China; OIE Reference Lab for Swine Streptococcosis, Nanjing 210095, China.
³ MOE Joint International Research Laboratory of Animal Health and Food Safety, College of Veterinary Medicine, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; Key Lab of Animal Bacteriology, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210095, China; OIE Reference Lab for Swine Streptococcosis, Nanjing 210095, China. Electronic address: jialema@njau.edu.cn.

PMID: 36720402
DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2023.105106

Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) is now recognized as an urgent threat to public health since the emergence of multidrug-resistant and hypervirulent isolates. We identified a hypervirulent K2 isolate from the milk samples possibly associated with an infection incident in children, which raised the alarm to the zoonotic potential of bovine mastitis Kp as a foodborne pathogen. Subsequently, numerous K1, K2, K3, K5, K54 and K57 strains were identified from mastitis milk samples, and showed high pathogenicity in infected mouse. Further analysis based on complete genomes found that these isolates showed closely evolutionary relationships with the human hypervirulent strains in diverse phylogenetic lineages, suggesting their potential risk to public health.

Keywords: Bovine mastitis; Hypervirulent; K capsular; K2; Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Cattle
Child
Female
Humans
Klebsiella Infections* / epidemiology
Klebsiella Infections* / veterinary
Klebsiella pneumoniae* / genetics
Mice
Phylogeny
Virulence
Virulence Factors

Substances

Virulence Factors
Anti-Bacterial Agents