Horizontal transfer of pOXA-48 from a hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae ST23/KL57 to Serratia marcescens
Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumonia isolates express a range of virulence factors, often encoded on virulence plasmids. Occasionally these hypervirulent lineages acquire antimicrobial resistance genes rendering them multidrug-resistant. We describe the nosocomial transmission of a hypervirulent K. pneumoniae ST23/KL57 isolate carrying an NDM-1 and OXA-48 beta-lactamase among COVID-19 patients in a Danish university hospital. Furthermore, we characterize the plasmid structure and describe a within-patient horizontal transfer of a plasmid carrying a blaOXA-48 gene from K. pneumoniae ST23/KL57 to a Serratia marcescens isolate.