Emergence of Diarrhoeagenic Klebsiella pneumoniae Carrying astA and senB genes in Nigeria

Klebsiella pneumoniae is increasingly being isolated from the stool of Nigerian patients. K. pneumoniae was isolated from stool samples submitted to two clinical laboratories in Nigeria from patients presenting with various symptoms of gastrointestinal tract infections, including diarrhoea. The authors characterized the virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes of these K. pneumoniae strains. Sixteen pure cultures of heavy growth of K. pneumoniae isolated from two facilities in Nigeria were subjected to susceptibility testing using a panel of antibiotic, with agar dilution method. Paired-end Illumina whole genome sequencing was completed using a NextSeq instrument. Virulence genes including astA, senB, and gad were found in 5 isolates. Multiple plasmid replicons were present; IncF and Col were common plasmids while others were IncR and IncY. Four different STs were found; ST914, ST1962, ST494, and novel ST. These isolates carried various important resistance genes to cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and so on, including blaCTX-M-15 in one of the isolates. Diarrhoeagenic K. pneumoniae is present, which is caused by plasmid-mediated virulence genes such as astA, senB, and gad. Fluoroquinolone and third generation cephalosporin resistance were discovered.