Modelling the Gastrointestinal Carriage of Klebsiella pneumoniae Infections
Ricardo Calderón-González, Alix Lee, Guillermo López–Campos, Steven J. Hancock, Joana Sá‐Pessoa, Amy Dumigan, Ronan McMullan, Eric L. Campbell, José A. Bengoechea
Abstract
colonizes the nasopharynx and the gut of healthy subjects in an asymptomatic manner, making gut colonization a requisite for infection. This makes it essential to understand the gastrointestinal carriage in preventing Klebsiella infections. Current research models rely on the perturbation of the gut microbiome by antibiotics, resulting in an invasive infection. Here, we report a new model of K. pneumoniae gut colonization that recapitulates key features of the asymptomatic human gastrointestinal tract colonization. In our model, there is no need to disturb the microbiota to achieve stable colonization, and there is no dissemination to other tissues. Our model sums up the clinical scenario in which antibiotic treatment triggers invasive infection. We envision that our model will be an excellent platform upon which to investigate factors enhancing colonization and invasive infections and to test therapeutics to eliminate Klebsiella asymptomatic colonization.