Assessment of Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolates Using Multilocus Sequence Typing in West of Iran

• Published in: MicrobiologyOpen (Weinheim) Vol. 14; no. 4; pp. e70049 - n/a
• Main Authors: Haddadi, Mohammad Hossein, Sadeghifard, Nourkhoda, Khoshnood, Saeed, Maleki, Abbas, Ghafourian, Sobhan, Valadbeigi, Hassan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.08.2025; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Dehydrogenases; Endophthalmitis; Epidemiology; Genes; Genetic relationship; Genotype & phenotype; hypervirulent; K. pneumonia; Klebsiella; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Laboratories; Meningitis; MLST; Mortality; Multilocus sequence typing; Necrotizing fasciitis; Nosocomial infections; Original; Pathogens; Phylogeny; Pleural fluid; Pneumonia; Polymerase chain reaction; Potassium; Potassium tellurite; RNA polymerase; sequence type; Tellurite; Virulence; Iran; sequence type; MLST; K. pneumonia; hypervirulent
• ISSN: 2045-8827; 2045-8827
• DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.70049

ABSTRACT Background Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumonia (hvKP) has been considered due to severe infections such as pyogenic liver abscess, pneumonia, meningitis, endophthalmitis and necrotizing fasciitis. Due to the importance of the subject, hvKP isolates were investigated in the current study. Methods A total of 52 non‐repetitive Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumonia) isolates were collected from clinical specimens (pleural fluid, blood, urine and trachal aspiration) of hospitalized patients in three well‐known hospitals in Ilam, west of Iran. Phenotypic tests, including the string test and potassium tellurite resistance, and molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for iucA, iroB, iutA, and rmpA genes were used for hvKP diagnosis. In addition, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was used to clarify the genetic relationships between isolates. Results The mrkD, iroB, iucA, iutA, and rmpA genes were present in 6 (11.53%), 4 (7.7%), 12 (23.1%), 5 (9.6%), and 8 (15.4%) of the K. pneumoniae isolates, respectively. Eight isolates from different sources were identified with new sequence types (STs). These newly identified STs include ST‐7466, ST‐7467, ST‐7468, ST‐7469, ST‐7470, ST‐7471, ST‐7472 and ST‐7473. Conclusions We reported the eight new STs based on the MLST method for the phylogenetics of hvKP isolates. Our data indicated that no correlation between the phylogenetics of hvKP isolates. So, more extensive studies are needed to better understand the epidemiology of hvKP. This study identified eight novel sequence types (STs) of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae using MLST in western Iran. The findings highlight the genetic diversity and public health threat posed by hvKP strains. Phenotypic and genotypic methods, including PCR and MLST, were used to identify hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in western Iran, revealing eight novel sequence types and highlighting the genetic diversity of hvKP strains.