The largest epidemiological study to date on multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Saudi hospitals highlights the need for tailor-made health strategies for Saudi Arabia. A new multi-institutional study led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) provides the most comprehensive epidemiological analysis of Klebsiella pneumoniae in Saudi Arabia to date.
This multidrug-resistant bacterium is the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections worldwide and is considered a major public health threat by the World Health Organization. Bacterial strains in Saudi Arabia are genetically distinct from those found elsewhere, research shows, highlighting the need for targeted health policies to address this unique microbial diversity.
Although Klebsiella pneumoniae infections in healthy people usually cause mild symptoms, the bacteria pose a serious threat to sick or immunocompromised patients, potentially causing life-threatening illnesses such as pneumonia and meningitis. Antibiotics are the mainstay of treatment for these infections, but in recent decades a global increase in multidrug-resistant strains has made treatment increasingly difficult due to overuse of antibiotics in industries such as healthcare and agriculture.
"Klebsiella pneumoniae has a dynamic genome that can generate pathogenic strains from non-pathogenic bacteria. Understanding the epidemiology of emerging pathogenic strains will enhance preventive measures," explains Danesh Moradigaravand, one of the study's lead authors and an assistant professor at KAUST.
Individual bacterial species evolve by exchanging genetic information with each other through processes such as cloning and genetic recombination and horizontal gene transfer. Dynamic genomes allow antibiotic resistance genes to rapidly mix between strains. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now the sixth leading cause of death in the UK, killing more people than several respiratory and neurological diseases. However, the number of patients is constantly increasing, and any clone that develops strong drug resistance and toxicity may cause catastrophic damage due to the inability to control and treat it.
In fact, concerns about the emergence of drug-resistant strains have prompted the Saudi Public Health Authority to propose an action plan to implement and evaluate interventions, with Klebsiella pneumoniae being one of the priority bacteria to target. Last year, TU Cartagena and the Saudi Ministry of Health began a collaboration to support this initiative by combining TU Cartagena’s advanced genomics and data science capabilities with the Saudi Ministry of Health’s unique biobank of multidrug-resistant bacteria.
For the study, researchers collected samples from 34 hospitals in 15 cities in Saudi Arabia and performed a comprehensive genomic analysis on the samples.
Moradigaravand and KAUST Professor Arnab Pain and colleagues found that the most common strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae are genetically similar to strains from the Middle East and South Asia, shedding light on communication and spread in the region. More importantly from a health perspective, they also found that the molecular factors that confer resistance and virulence to this bacterium are converging, raising concerns that the emergence of resistance is being accompanied by symptom severity.
"The unique epidemiology observed in Saudi Arabia highlights the need for targeted surveillance programs tailored to the specific circumstances of each country," said Moradigaravand. "Furthermore, our work highlights the need to develop novel antimicrobial agents, as current global therapies may not adequately address local threats."
Compiled from /scitechdaily
DOI:10.1080/22221751.2024.2427793