Infection and Drug Resistance (Mar 2020)

Dynamic Epidemiology and Virulence Characteristics of Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Wenzhou, China from 2003 to 2016

  • Zhao Y,
  • Zhang S,
  • Fang R,
  • Wu Q,
  • Li J,
  • Zhang Y,
  • Rocker A,
  • Cao J,
  • Lithgow T,
  • Zhou T

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 931 – 940

Abstract

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Yajie Zhao,1,2 Siqin Zhang,1 Renchi Fang,1 Qing Wu,1 Jiahui Li,1 Yizhi Zhang,1 Andrea Rocker,3 Jianming Cao,2 Trevor Lithgow,3 Tieli Zhou1 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Science, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Infection and Immunity Program, Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaCorrespondence: Trevor Lithgow; Tieli Zhou Email [email protected]; [email protected]: To investigate transitions in resistance mechanisms, virulence characteristics and molecular epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) during 2003– 2016 in a major Eastern Chinese medical center.Patients and Methods: From a total of 2299 K. pneumoniae clinical strains collected from 2003 to 2016, 214 were found to be CRKP isolates and were selected for further study. Characterization of these was conducted by molecular detection of antibiotic resistance markers and virulence determinants, modified carbapenem inactivation method and multilocus sequence typing (MLST).Results: In this study, the prevalence of CRKP was increasing over the 14-year period, mirroring a national trend. These CRKP strains were resistant to most of the tested, clinically relevant drugs. The majority of these CRKP strains were positive for carbapenemases, with the Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) found to be the dominant type (207/210, 98.6%). The carrier rates of virulence genes uge, entB, fimH, mrkD and ureA increased in 2016, while the ybtA, iucA and irp2 showed a relatively constant trend. From MLST data, ST11 (88.8%, 190/214) was the preponderant sequence type (ST), followed by ST15 (1.9%, 4/214) and ST656 (1.4%, 3/214). Several strains with less common STs (ST690, ST895, ST1823 and ST1384) were also detected, and these too showed high levels of antimicrobial resistance.Conclusion: The average national rise in CRKP across China is mirrored in this in-depth analysis of a single hospital, while the prevalence of hypervirulent CRKP (such as ST15) was relatively low as of 2016. Continuous monitoring is necessary to keep track of CRKP and should include the prospect of newly emerging strains with less common STs and the prospect of detecting carbapenem-resistant, carbapenemase-negative Klebsiella pneumoniae.Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae, carbapenem-resistant, antimicrobial resistance, ST11, epidemiology

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