Abstract
Background
Antibiotic resistance among Enterobacteriaceae posts a great challenge to the health care service. The emergence of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) is attracting significant attention due to its rapid and global dissemination. The infection is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, thus creating challenges for infection control and managing teams to curb the infection. In Southeast Asia, there have been limited reports and subsequent research regarding CRKP infections. Thus, the study was conducted to characterize CRKP that has been isolated in our setting.
Methods
A total of 321 K. pneumoniae were included in the study. Each isolate went through an identification process using an automated identification system. Phenotypic characterization was determined using disk diffusion, modified Hodge test, Epsilometer test, and inhibitor combined disk test. Further detection of carbapenemase genes was carried out using polymerase chain reaction and confirmed by gene sequence analysis.
Results
All together, 13 isolates (4.05%) were CRKP and the majority of them were resistant to tested antibiotics except colistin and tigercycline. Among seven different carbapenemase genes studied (bla KPC, bla IMP, bla SME, bla NDM, bla IMI, bla VIM, and bla OXA), only two, bla IMP4 (1.87%) and bla NDM1 (2.18%), were detected in our setting.
Conclusion
Evidence suggests that the prevalence of CRKP in our setting is low, and knowledge of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and CRKP has improved and become available among clinicians.
Authors’ contributions
All authors contributed equally to this work. All authors contributed and participated in the study, preparation of the manuscript, and statistical analysis, and read and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to all the staff working in the Medical Microbiology & Parasitology division who were involved in this project. I also want to convey my appreciation to Universiti Sains Malaysia short-term grant, No: 304/PPSP/61311033, for financial support. The study was approved by the ethical committee of the School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia [Reg. No: USMKK/PPP/JEPeM(233.4.(1.4))].
Conflict of interest and funding
The authors declare that they have no competing interests. There are not any non-financial competing interests involved in this publication.