Stool Samples of Acute Diarrhea Inpatients as a Reservoir of ST11 Hypervirulent KPC-2-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae

The emergence and spread of carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 11 (ST11-CR-HvKP) in China are a great concern in the public health community. However, the underlying mechanism that enables its wide dissemination in China remains unclear. Here, we investigated the prevalence of carriage of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) among inpatients with diarrhea in a teaching hospital over 1 year to identify ST11-CR-HvKP reservoirs and to understand the genetic background and plasmid profiles of these pathogens. As assessed by stool analysis, the CPE colonization rate (12.4%) among the inpatients with diarrhea was high (12.4%). Antibiotic exposure, surgical history, and CPE positivity were correlated. Genomic investigation of 65 carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates indicated a shared bacterial population in various wards. According to maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree analysis, these isolates were partitioned into three major clades. Analysis of the wzi locus revealed three different K types (KL105, KL47, and K64) among the ST11 isolates, indicating the genetic diversity of these isolates. Genetic and sequence mapping revealed the complexity of virulence and resistance plasmid sets harbored by the isolates. These observations indicate that the dissemination of resistant bacteria is more complex than initially anticipated and possibly involves multiple K. pneumoniae ST11 lineages and a variety of virulence plasmids. Collectively, we show for the first time that stool may be a source of ST11-CR-HvKP isolates. Furthermore, the findings reveal the silent dissemination of ST11-CR-HvKP bacteria in Zhejiang Province, China. Future investigations are warranted to determine the association between rectal colonization by ST11-CR-HvKP and clinical infections. IMPORTANCE China has been experiencing a rapid increase in the number of nosocomial infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ST11 (ST11-CRKP) for decades. The emergence of hypervirulent ST11-CRKP (ST11-CR-HvKP) strains is expected to become a serious public health issue in China, considering that carbapenem resistance and virulence have converged in an epidemic clone. K. pneumoniae strains that colonize the human intestinal tract may become a reservoir of virulence and carbapenemase-encoding genes. Here, we first characterized the genotypes and antimicrobial phenotypes of ST11-CR-HvKP strains isolated from diarrheal stool samples of inpatients in Zhejiang Province, China. Active surveillance approaches based on the findings of the present study should be implemented, particularly in intensive care units, to combat the spread of ST11-CR-HvKP and to improve treatment.