Prof. Chen Sheng, Professor of PolyU’s Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology and Prof. Rong Zhang from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, conducted an investigation into a fatal outbreak of pneumonia in February 2016 in the latter. The study involved five patients who were infected in the intensive care unit and developed severe pneumonia, eventually dying of septicaemia and multiple organ failure.
The study revealed that the causative agent of these five patients was found to be a carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae (CRKP) strain, a type of previously-defined superbug, which belong to the most prevalent and transmissible ST11 type of CRKP in Asia. However, these strains, after acquiring plasmid encoding a carbapenemase gene, become resistant to carbapenem antibiotics, causing untreatable or hard-to-be treated infections. Further acquisition of hypervirulence plasmids would cause these strains to further evolve into a real superbug known as ST11 carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent K. pneumoniae (ST11-CR-HvKP), which simultaneously exhibit the three features of hyper-resistance, hypervirulence and high transmissibility.
Not only do the ST11 CR-HvKP strains infect lungs and cause pneumonia, they also invade the bloodstream and other internal organs. Due to ST11 CR-HvKP strains’ hypervirulence and phenotypic resistance to commonly used antibiotics, they may cause untreatable and fatal infections in relatively healthy individuals with normal immunity.
PolyU plans to collaborate with local hospitals to further investigate the features of the superbug strains.
The results of the study were published in the prestigious academic journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Details>>