title: The prevalence of infections and colonisation with Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated in ICU patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Klebsiella spp. are among the bacteria most commonly isolated from patients with infections in ICUs. The source of these infections may be the microflora of the patient or the hospital environment. Increasingly, Klebsiella strains are also being isolated from epidemic outbreaks. This situation is largely the result of widespread, irrational antibiotic use, the virulence of the bacterial strains and their ability to survive in the hospital environment. The purpose of this dissertation was to estimate the prevalence of Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated from patients hospitalised in a single ICU.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-eight isolates of K. pneumoniae were studied. The identification and the susceptibility to selected antibiotics were tested by an automated system, VITEK2 Compact. For the analysed strains, the production of different beta-lactamases was noted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Production of ESBL was detected in 64.1% of the K. pneumoniae strains isolated from infections and 74.4% from rectal swabs. Most of the strains were susceptible to imipenem (97.7%) and meropenem (96.1%). Sixty-nine (57.0%) of the analysed strains were identified as multidrug resistant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most of the analysed Klebsiella pneumoniae strains produced ESBL-beta-lactamases. The frequency of colonisation and infection with multidrug resistant strains of K. pneumoniae in patients hospitalised in the ICU is very high.
authors.affiliation: Chair and Department of Microbiology, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. asekowska@cm.umk.pl.
authors.forename: Alicja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sękowska
authors.forename: Eugenia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gospodarek
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kusza
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007710:Klebsiella Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001618:beta-Lactamases