Multi-drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains circulating in hospital setting: whole-genome sequencing and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis for outbreak investigations

Carbapenems resistant Enterobacteriaceae infections are increasing worldwide representing an emerging public health problem. The application of phylogenetic and phylodynamic analyses to bacterial whole genome sequencing (WGS) data have become essential in the epidemiological surveillance of multi-drug resistant nosocomial pathogens. Between January 2012 and February 2013, twenty-one multi-drug resistant K. pneumoniae strains, were collected from patients hospitalized among different wards of the University Hospital Campus Bio-Medico. Epidemiological contact tracing of patients and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of bacterial WGS data were used to investigate the evolution and spatial dispersion of K. pneumoniae in support of hospital infection control. The epidemic curve of incident K. pneumoniae cases showed a bimodal distribution of cases with two peaks separated by 46 days between November 2012 and January 2013. The time-scaled phylogeny suggested that K. pneumoniae strains isolated during the study period may have been introduced into the hospital setting as early as 2007. Moreover, the phylogeny showed two different epidemic introductions in 2008 and 2009. Bayesian genomic epidemiology is a powerful tool that promises to improve the surveillance and control of multi-drug resistant pathogens in an effort to develop effective infection prevention in healthcare settings or constant strains reintroduction.