# Klebsiella pneumoniae as a key trafficker of drug resistance genes from environmental to clinically important bacteria

Review · Wyres KL, Holt KE

- Archive id: doi:10.1016/j.mib.2018.04.004
- Published: 2018-05-01
- Venue: Current opinion in microbiology
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2018.04.004
- PMID: 29723841
- Citations: 454
- Source URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2018.04.004
- Provenance: europepmc

## Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen known for its high frequency and diversity of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. In addition to being a significant clinical problem in its own right, K. pneumoniae is the species within which several new AMR genes were first discovered before spreading to other pathogens (e.g. carbapenem-resistance genes KPC, OXA-48 and NDM-1). Whilst K. pneumoniae's contribution to the overall AMR crisis is impossible to quantify, current evidence suggests it has a wider ecological distribution, significantly more varied DNA composition, greater AMR gene diversity and a higher plasmid burden than other Gram negative opportunists. Hence we propose it plays a key role in disseminating AMR genes from environmental microbes to clinically important pathogens.

_Abstract reproduced under CC-BY (article license as recorded by Europe PMC; abstract reproduced unmodified apart from markup removal)._

Topics: [Infectious Disease, Vaccines & Antimicrobial Resistance](https://space-kitty.com/topics/infectious-disease-amr)

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