Prevalence of hospital and community acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae infections among patients attending a tertiary hospital in Calabar, Nigeria

Abstract

Klebsiella (k.) pneumoniae is listed by the World Health Organization among the priority-one critical pathogens, and reported to be a major opportunistic hospital-associated pathogen accounting for about one third of all Gram-negative infections, globally. This study investigated the prevalence of hospital- acquired K. pneumoniae (HA-Kp) and community-acquired K. pneumoniae (CA-Kp) infections among patients attending University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria. Clinical specimens, collected from 120 patients, were processed by conventional bacteriological methods for isolation and identification of pathogens. Presumed isolates of K. pneumoniae were confirmed by Vitek 2 Compact system® (bioMérieux, Marcy L’Étoile, France) and subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. The prevalence of K. pneumoniae infections was 26.7%, with HA-Kp and CA-Kp strains accounting for 15.0% and 11.7%, respectively. The peak prevalence of infection was found among subjects aged above 60 years, while those aged 1-10 years had the least infection. Whereas the infection was more prevalent in females than the male subjects, a greater
proportion of the K. pneumoniae strains were found to be urinary isolates (46.9%), ahead of sputum (37.5%) and wound specimens (15.6%). The high prevalence of infection among the elderly subjects in this study may reflect their increased vulnerability to infectious diseases, particularly K. pneumoniae infections, and underscore the vital need for strict infection-control protocols in hospitals as well as community settings to minimize the raging escalation of hospital and community acquired infections.