Introduction: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae  (CRE) pose a serious threat to clinical patient management and public health, as they are generally resistant to most antibiotics and cause infections with high mortality rates. Klebsiella pneumoniae  ranks second among Enterobacteriaceae  species that cause nosocomial infections. In this study, we investigated the epidemic characteristics of carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae  (CRKP) in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Yanbian University Hospital.
Materials and Methods: A total of 14 non-duplicate CRKP strains, collected from March  2015 to November 2019, were subjected to automated microbial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility tests using the Phoenix-100 ID/AST system. The strains were also subjected to genotypic resistance testing, polymerase chain reaction assays to detect genes encoding carbapenemases and other β-lactamases, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)-based homology analysis.
Results: Two carbapenemase genes, KPC-2 and NDM-1 (in eight and six strains, respectively), were detected. MLST enabled the division of the strains into two sequence types, ST11 and ST1224 (containing eight and six strains, respectively). PFGE results classified the 14 strains into clonotypes A–D, of which clonotypes A and B belonged to ST11, while clonotypes C and D belonged to ST1224.
Conclusion: Our study reveals that epidemics of the KPC-2-ST11 and NDM-1-ST1224 strains occurred in the PICU of Yanbian University Hospital. Surveillance and strict implementation of prevention and control measures are crucial to prevent the occurrence and rapid spread of nosocomial infections.
Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae , carbapenemase, sequence type 1224, pediatric intensive care unit