Korean J Infect Dis.  2000 Jun;32(3):197-202.

A Comparative Study of Community-acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae Bacteremia and Escherichia coli Bacteremia

• Choi YH
• Lee SM
• Park KJ
• Hwang SC
• Lee YH
• Hahn MH

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Klebsiella pneumoniae is the second most common causative pathogen only next to Escherichia coli among the facultative Gram-negative rods causing both community-acquired and nosocomial bacteremia.
METHODS
We have reviewed the clinical and laboratory data from all patients with community-acquired K. pneumoniae bacteremia and compared it with randomly selected community-acquired E. coli bacteremia in the patients who were admitted to Ajou University hospital between the period from 1997 to 1998.
RESULTS
The incidence of K. pneumoniae bacteremia was 1.8/1,000 patient discharge. Of 51 patients with K. pneumoniae bacteremia, 27 were male and 24 were female. The mean age was 58.4 years. The primary foci of K. pneumoniae bacteremia were hepatobiliary tract (35%), urinary tract (22%), respiratory tract (16%) and 20% of patients had no primary focus identified. The attributable mortality of K. pneumoniae bacteremia was 20%. Patients with K. pneumoniae and E. coli bacteremia had common clinical features, but K. pneumoniae bacteremia had high incidence of diabetes mellitus as an underlying illness and there was a tendency to form abscess and neutropenia more frequently than in E. coli bacteremia. E. coli was found to be more resistant to antibiotics (ampicillin/ sulbactam, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, cephalothin, co-trimoxazole, tetracycline and tobramycin) than K. pneumoniae.
CONCLUSION
K. pneumoniae bacteremia occurred more frequently in diabetes mellitus and the major primary focus was hepatobiliary tract. K. pneumoniae bacteremia had a higher incidence of abscess formation and neutropenia than E. coli.

Keyword

Klebsiella pneumoniae; Community-acquired bacteremia; Escherichia coli

MeSH Terms

Abscess
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Bacteremia*
Cephalothin
Ciprofloxacin
Diabetes Mellitus
Escherichia coli*
Escherichia*
Female
Gentamicins
Humans
Incidence
Klebsiella pneumoniae*
Klebsiella*
Male
Mortality
Neutropenia
Patient Discharge
Pneumonia
Respiratory System
Sulbactam
Tetracycline
Trimethoprim, Sulfamethoxazole Drug Combination
Urinary Tract
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Cephalothin
Ciprofloxacin
Gentamicins
Sulbactam
Tetracycline