Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp) raised concern worldwide. We studied 22 hvKp clinical invasive isolates referred to the Belgian national reference laboratory between 2014 and 2020. Sixty-four percent of the isolates expressed K2 capsular serotype and belonged to 7 different MLST lineages, while 32% expressed K1 (all belonging to ST23) and were associated with liver abscesses. Primary extra-hepatic infections were reported in 36% and sepsis for 95% of the patients with 30% of deaths. Improved clinical and microbiological diagnostics are required as hvKp may represent an underestimated cause of community-acquired invasive infections in Belgium.
Keywords: Capsular serotype; Hypermucoviscosity; Hypervirulence; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Molecular epidemiology; Whole genome sequencing.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.