Within-patient and global evolutionary dynamics ofKlebsiella pneumoniaeST17
Authors: Hetland Marit A. K. , Hawkey Jane , Bernhoff Eva , Bakksjø Ragna-Johanne , Kaspersen Håkon , Rettedal Siren Irene , Sundsfjord Arnfinn , Holt Kathryn E. , Löhr Iren H. 
Published: November 2022

Klebsiella pneumoniaesequence type (ST) 17 is a global problem clone that causes multidrug-resistant (MDR) hospital infections worldwide. In 2008-2009, an outbreak of MDR ST17 occurred at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Stavanger, Norway. Fifty-seven children were colonised. We observed intestinal persistence of ST17 in all of the children for up to two years after hospital discharge. Here, we investigated the within-host evolution of ST17 in 45 of those children during long-term colonisation and compared the outbreak with 254 global strains. Ninety-two outbreak-related isolates were whole-genome sequenced. They had capsule locus KL25, O locus O5 and carried yersiniabactin. During within-host colonisation ST17 remained stable with few single nucleotide polymorphisms, no acquisition of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) or virulence determinants, and persistent carriage of ablaCTX-M-15-encoding IncFII(K) IncFIB(K) plasmid (pKp2177_1). The global collection included ST17 from 1993-2020 from 34 countries, that were from human infection (41.3%), colonisation (39.3%) and respiratory specimens (7.3%), from animals (9.3%), and from the environment (2.7%). We estimate that ST17 emerged mid-to-late 19th century (1859, 95% HPD 1763-1939) and diversified through recombinations of the K and O loci to form several sublineages, with various AMR genes, virulence loci and plasmids. There was limited evidence of persistence of AMR genes in any of these lineages. A globally disseminated sublineage with KL25/O5 accounted for 52.7% of the genomes. It included a monophyletic subclade that emerged in the mid-1980s, which comprised the Stavanger NICU outbreak and 10 genomes from three other countries, which all carried pKp2177_1. The plasmid was also observed in a KL155/OL101 subclade from the 2000s. Three clonal expansions of ST17 were identified, all were healthcare-associated and carried either yersiniabactin and/or pKp2177_1. To conclude, ST17 is globally disseminated and associated with opportunistic hospital-acquired infections. It contributes to the burden of global MDR infections, but many diverse lineages persist without acquired AMR. We hypothesise that non-human sources and human colonisation may play a crucial role for severe infections in vulnerable patients, such as preterm neonates.

Impact statement

Klebsiella pneumoniaeis an opportunistic pathogen that frequently causes hospital-associated multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections. Infections withK. pneumoniaestrains that are resistant to third generation cephalosporins and/or carbapenems are considered a major public health threat, as there are limited treatment options available. Some MDRK. pneumoniaeclones, including ST307 and ST258, are global problem clones because they disproportionately contribute to the burden of MDR infections and are common causes of such infections and/or outbreaks in hospitals around the world. Here we describe another such clone, ST17, which caused an MDR outbreak in our neonatal intensive care unit, affecting 57 children. We found that this clone underwent minor within-host evolution during two years of long-term gastrointestinal colonisation after hospital discharge. We then investigated the evolutionary history of ST17 globally, as it had not previously been studied. When we compared ST17 isolates from around the world with the isolates from our hospital, we discovered that whilst ST17 with antimicrobial resistance has contributed to outbreaks in other neonatal care units, it also frequently causes infections or colonises humans and non-human sources without any antimicrobial resistance.

Data summary

The genome sequences generated in this study have been deposited at the European Nucleotide Archive under BioProject PRJEB36392. The BioSample accession numbers and associated metadata for the genomes are available in Table S1. The completed annotated genome assembly of Kp2177 is available in GenBank under accession numbersCP075591(chromosome),CP075592(pKp2177_1),CP075593(pKp2177_2) andCP075594(pKp2177_3). The global dataset of 300 ST17 genomes is available for interactive viewing in Microreact athttps://microreact.org/project/kpst17.