Klebsiella Research Paper

Klebsiella is a type of bacteria that can be found in a healthcare setting, causes a bacterial healthcare related infection which leads to pneumoniae, bloodstream infections, wound/surgical infections, urinary tract infections, and meningitis. It can be found in the human mouth, skin, intestines (where they don't cause a disease), but also from the feces of humans (4). Sick patients who are already receiving treatment for another condition are usually the ones who receive this infection, from breathing machines, vein catheter. Healthy people don't usually get klebsiella infections (4). Also, pneumoniae is ubiquitous to the ecological environment, which includes water, sewage, and soil (2). The earliest descriptions of Klebsiella pneumoniae

Despite, the wide environmental distribution of Klebsiella, has it states in the article of public health, “members of Klebsiella spp. can be transmitted from person-to-person; however, the communicability period is unknown. Approximately one-third of people carry Klebsiellae in their stools; detection rates according to different studies vary from 5% to 36%. Detection rates in nasopharynx vary from 1% to 6%. Hospital personnel have been shown to frequently carry Klebsiellae on their hands” (9). Some of human that have this infection can or may not have any symptoms but if they do some of the symptoms include “cough with yellow, green, or blood-tinged mucus, chest pain that worsens when coughing or breathing, sudden onset of chills, fever of 102 degrees or above (lower than 102 in older persons), headache, muscle pain, breathlessness or rapid breathing, lethargy, moist, pale skin, confusion (especially among the elderly) and loss of appetite” (1). Also, as it states in the according CDC, “Some Klebsiella bacteria have become highly resistant to antibiotics. When bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae produce an enzyme known as a carbapenemase (referred to as KPC-producing organisms), then the class of antibiotics called carbapenems will not work to kill the bacteria and treat the infection. Klebsiella species are examples of Enterobacteriaceae, a normal part of the human gut bacteria that can become carbapenem-resistant. CRE, which stands for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, are a family of germs that are difficult to treat because they have high levels of resistance to antibiotics. Unfortunately, carbapenem antibiotics often are the last line of defense against Gram-negative infections that are resistant to other antibiotics.