Abstract
An increasing antimicrobial resistance among Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) has been rapidly growing. The cross-sectional, analytical and descriptive study was conducted to investigate the multidrug resistance (MDR) of K. pneumoniae isolated from respiratory tract infection. One hundred and fifty-one K. pneumoniae isolates were recovered from 330 sputum specimens (45.75%). The isolates showed high levels of resistance to the most of antibiotics and intermediate resistance prevalence against imipenem and meropenem. Random and misuse of antibiotics lead to the emergence of superbugs. Prospective studies must focus on new strategies for facing of the tsunami of drug resistance.K. pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium, belongs to family Enterobacteriaceae. K. pneumoniae can be stated as the major cause of different types of lower respiratory infections followed by septicemia. The majority of the infections were diagnosed in hospitalized patients, it indicates that K. pneumoniae is a potent nosocomial pathogen in our hospitals(Kramer et al., 2006).Treatment of infections caused by K. pneumoniae is hindered by emergence of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial agents. K. pneumoniae is capable of employing a multitude of mechanisms by which to confer resistance to most available antibiotics, efflux pumps play a major role. Bacterial efflux pumps are membrane proteins that decrease intracellular concentration of antimicrobial agents through pumping them outside the cells. Importantly, bacterial efflux pumps are non-specific in action and therefore could mediate bacterial resistance to structurally unrelated antimicrobial agents (Nahar and Rashid, 2017).
Highlights
IntroductionK. pneumoniae can be stated as the major cause of different types of lower respiratory infections followed by septicemia
K. pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium, belongs to family Enterobacteriaceae
The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of K. pneumoniae from patients with respiratory tract infections and to investigate multidrug resistance (MDR) and efflux pump activity in K. pneumoniae isolated from respiratory tract infection
Summary
K. pneumoniae can be stated as the major cause of different types of lower respiratory infections followed by septicemia. K. pneumoniae has the potential to cause mainly respiratory, urinary, blood and wound infections and recently, liver abscess syndrome was widely reported in Asian countries, it is associated with high virulence strains of capsular serotype K1 or K2 with hypermucoviscosity phenotype resulting mainly from K1-specific gene and a plasmid-borne gene (Ravichitra et al, 2014). Treatment of infections caused by K. pneumoniae is hindered by emergence of bacterial resistance to antimicrobial agents. K. pneumoniae is capable of employing a multitude of mechanisms by which to confer resistance to most available antibiotics, efflux pumps play a major role. Bacterial efflux pumps are membrane proteins that decrease intracellular concentration of antimicrobial agents through pumping them outside the cells. Bacterial efflux pumps are nonspecific in action and could mediate bacterial resistance to structurally unrelated antimicrobial agents (Nahar and Rashid, 2017). Increasing the efflux plays a role, especially with hydrophobic compounds that presumably enter the cell via diffusion (Silver et al, 1977)
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