Clinical Manifestation, Distribution, and Drug Resistance of Pathogens Among Abdominal Solid Organ Transplant Recipients With Klebsiella pneumoniae Infections

Abstract

BackgroundA Klebsiella pneumoniae infection is a life-threatening disease among abdominal solid organ transplant (ASOT) recipients. The objectives of our present work are to investigate the distribution and drug resistance of pathogens, and clinical manifestation among ASOT recipients suffering from K pneumoniae infections. MethodsThe medical records of 53 ASOT recipients with 63 episodes of K pneumoniae infections from October 1, 2013 to June 1, 2019 were reviewed according to the Declaration of Helsinki and the Declaration of Istanbul. There were no grafts from prisoners used in these 53 patients and the donors were not coerced or paid. The distribution and drug resistance of each pathogen and clinical manifestation among ASOT recipients with K pneumoniae infections were retrospectively reviewed and summarized. ResultsPrevalence and mortality of K pneumoniae infections among ASOT recipients were 4.5% and 32.1%, respectively. The origins of K pneumoniae infections were the blood (n = 21), deep wound and skin (n = 10), urinary tract (n = 9), abdomen (n = 6), and lung (n = 7). The numbers of organs from donors after cardiac death and living-related donors were 52 and 1, respectively. Twenty-nine patients had a serum creatinine level >1.5 mg/dL at the onset of K pneumoniae infections. Fifty-eight percent of K pneumoniae strains were carbapenem resistant. The resistance rate of K pneumoniae to 5 of 12 antibiotics investigated was more than 60%. The strains were relatively susceptible to meropenem, tigecycline, sulfamethoxazole, and amikacin; while there were distinctly increasing trends of resistance to meropenem and amikacin as time went on. ConclusionsThe clinical manifestation of K pneumoniae infections included elevated serum creatinine level, high carbapenem-resistant rate, and mortality. The drug-resistance rates of K pneumoniae to the most commonly used antibiotics were high with an increasing trend of resistance in recent years. Tigecycline, meropenem, sulfamethoxazole, and amikacin are recommended to treat K pneumoniae infections among ASOT recipients.