The face of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from clinical samples of two Iranian teaching hospitals

Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob. 2021 Aug 31;20(1):58. doi: 10.1186/s12941-021-00467-2.

Abstract

Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp) has emerged as a pathogen of global concern. In this study, both phenotypic and genotypic tests were used to detect hvKp. Antimicrobial resistance profiles and clonal relatedness of clinical isolates were also determined. We found that 34.2% (163/477) of the isolates were tellurite resistant, and among them 102 hvKp isolates detected with iucA or iutA or peg-344 as molecular markers. The blaSHV (80.4%), followed by blaCTX-M-15 (76.5%) and blaTEM (67.6%), blaOXA-48 (53.9%), and blaNDM-1 (32.3%) were detected, while blaKPC-1 was not present in any hvKp isolates. It was found that the majority of hvKp isolates belonged to capsular serotype K20 and ompK36 group C, which is related to clonal group (CG) 23 (e.g. ST23). A high percentage of multidrug-resistant hvKp (76.6%) and high resistance to imipenem (67%) indicated a serious problem that should be addressed in the clinical setting.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Clonal relatedness; Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumonia; Identification test.

MeSH terms

  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial
  • Hospitals, Teaching
  • Humans
  • Iran / epidemiology
  • Klebsiella Infections / diagnosis*
  • Klebsiella Infections / epidemiology
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae / drug effects
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae / isolation & purification
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae / pathogenicity*
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Virulence Factors / genetics*

Substances

  • Virulence Factors