Antibiogram and hypermucoviscosity pattern among Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from respiratory samples: A tertiary care hospital study in South India

Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) is frequently found as normal microbial flora of gastrointestinal tract, nasopharynx and skin, has emerged as a major nosocomial pathogen causing infections of the lower respiratory tract, wounds and urinary tract more commonly opportunistic infections in immune-compromised hosts. Respiratory tract infections are one among the most common nosocomial infections caused by K. pneumoniae. Multi-drug resistant K. pneumoniae (MDR-KP), along with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing strains are the cause of concern making it a difficult target for antibiotic chemotherapy. This study was conducted to know the antibiogram pattern and the occurrence of hypermucoviscous in clinical isolates of K. pneumoniae from respiratory samples in a tertiary care medical college hospital in South India. K. pneumoniae isolates were characterized from respiratory tract samples by using standard microbiological procedures showing hypermucoviscosity which were screened for antibiotic sensitivity test by using Kirby Bauer disc diffusion and also by double disk synergy test (DDST) for presumptive ESBL production. In our study we found that, among 87 respiratory samples of K. pneumoniae isolates, 79 (90.8%) were hypermucoviscous and 29 (33.3%) isolates were found to be ESBL producers. This shows that, ESBL producing K. pneumoniae isolates had a greater capacity to produce hypermucoviscosity (100%) than non-ESBL producing K. pneumoniae isolates (86.2%). Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae, Antibiogram, Respiratory samples, Hypermucoviscosity, Hypervirulent.