Identification of a major cluster of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from patients with liver abscess in Taiwan

Klebsiella pneumoniae has emerged as the leading liver abscess pathogen in Taiwan, with the percentage rising from 30% in the 1980s to over 80% in the 1990s. Most of the patients with K. pneumoniae liver abscess are diabetic and without biliary tract disease. Some patients develop serious extrahepat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical microbiology 2000, Vol.38 (1), p.412-414
Main Authors: LAU, Y.-J, HU, B.-S, WU, W.-L, LIN, Y.-H, CHANG, H.-Y, SHI, Z.-Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial diseases of the digestive system and abdomen
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Cluster Analysis
Diabetes Complications
Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field
Epidemiology
Evolution, Molecular
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Klebsiella Infections - complications
Klebsiella Infections - epidemiology
Klebsiella Infections - microbiology
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Klebsiella pneumoniae - classification
Liver Abscess - epidemiology
Liver Abscess - microbiology
Medical sciences
Microbiology
Molecular Epidemiology
Taiwan
Taiwan - epidemiology
Veterans
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Summary:Klebsiella pneumoniae has emerged as the leading liver abscess pathogen in Taiwan, with the percentage rising from 30% in the 1980s to over 80% in the 1990s. Most of the patients with K. pneumoniae liver abscess are diabetic and without biliary tract disease. Some patients develop serious extrahepatic complications such as endophthalmitis, meningitis, lung abscess, and necrotizing fasciitis. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used for cluster analysis of 96 isolates from patients with liver abscess and 60 isolates from patients with other diseases. A total of 136 PFGE types were identified. Among the 96 liver abscess-associated isolates, 60 (62.5%) were classified in major cluster A. Cluster A included 41 PFGE types (types 1 to 41) which had a genetic similarity of at least 72.4% +/- 9.4%. The PFGE patterns of cluster A strains are so similar that they could have originated from the same ancestor. This study demonstrates that cluster A plays an important role in the high incidence of K. pneumoniae liver abscess in Taiwan.
ISSN:0095-1137
1098-660X
DOI:10.1128/JCM.38.1.412-414.2000