Chart showing the sources where Klebsiella species were identified. Whilst the bacteria were found in the environment, there was no evidence of transfer to humans. Credit: University of Bath
Key Points:
- New research concludes higher rates of deadly drug resistant bacteria transmissions in hospitals than in the environment.
- The bacterial species lives harmlessly in the intestines, but can be dangerous if it spreads to other parts of the body.
- This type of bacteria is now highly resistant to antibiotics, even to the so-called “last resort” class of antibiotics.
An international team of scientists led one of the largest investigations on the transmission of a deadly drug resistant bacteria that rivals MRSA.
The researchers, led by Ed Feil from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, investigated the prevalence of Klebsiella, a family of bacterial species that lives harmlessly in the intestines, but can be dangerous if it spreads to other parts of the body.
This class of bacteria known to cause pneumonia and meningitis is now highly resistant to antibiotics, with some strains even resistant to the so-called “last resort” groups of antibiotics.
For the study, published in Nature, the team of scientists collected 6,548 samples over a 15-month period from different locations around the Italian city of Pavia, where this pathogen is a major problem in hospitals. They found 3,482 isolates including 15 different species of Klebsiella, with half of the positive samples containing K. pneumoniae.
The team then genetically sequenced the bacteria to find which strains were present and found there was very little overlap between those bugs found in the hospitals and those found in the environment.
According to Feil, researchers wanted to find out whether resistant bacteria were spreading into pets, farms, livestock, plants, and water in an effort to better prevent and control outbreaks.
“We found it was present everywhere, but were surprised that the strains found in hospitals were different to those found in the environment, indicating there’s very little transfer between the two habitats: humans nearly always catch this from other humans.