Clinical and Molecular Characteristics and Antibacterial Strategies of Klebsiella pneumoniae in Pyogenic Infection
Zhiyu Yang, Runmei Zhou, Yusheng Chen, Xiaotuan Zhang, Logen Liu, Min Luo, Jinlin Chen, Kuilin Chen, Tong Zeng, Bin Liu, Yuan Wu, Jielite Huang, Liu Zhuo-ran, Jinglin Ouyang
Abstract
Klebsiella pneumoniae may cause pyogenic infections, which are potentially life-threatening and bring great challenges for clinical management. However, the clinical and molecular characteristics of K. pneumoniae are poorly understood, and effective antibacterial treatment strategies are limited. We analyzed the clinical and molecular features of 54 isolates from patients with various pyogenic infections. We found that most patients with pyogenic infections had underlying diseases, such as diabetes. The ratio of white blood cells to procalcitonin and the ratio of C-reactive protein to procalcitonin were potential clinical markers for differentiating hypervirulent K. pneumoniae strains from classical K. pneumoniae strains that cause pyogenic infections. K. pneumoniae isolates of ST11 were generally more resistant to antibiotics than non-ST11 isolates. Most importantly, hypervirulent K. pneumoniae strains were more tolerant to antibiotics than classic K. pneumoniae isolates.