The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in a new report that dangerous new strains of “hypervirulent” superbugs have been found in 16 countries, including the United States.
EVEN IF YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM IS GOOD, IT IS PROGRESSING RAPIDLY
The superbug known as hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKp) is a type of drug-resistant bacteria that can cause rapidly progressing, fatal infections even in people with healthy immune systems, Live Science reported.
K. pneumoniae can be found in the environment in general (e.g., in soil and water) and in the upper throat and gastrointestinal tract of a variety of animals, including humans. The classic version of the microbe is a major problem in healthcare settings, such as hospitals, because it can contaminate medical equipment and cause opportunistic infections, especially in people with weakened immune systems.
It is known to cause pneumonia, urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections, and the nervous system infection meningitis. Originally, the bacteria were naturally resistant to the antibiotic ampicillin, and in recent years they have developed resistance to more and more drugs.
DANGER OF DEATH
The newer, “hypervirulent” variant of K. pneumoniae poses a broader threat because it can cause serious infections even in people with healthy immune systems. Invasive infections can progress very quickly and lead to high rates of complications and death.
When hvKp was first discovered in Asia in the 1980s, it was still vulnerable to a variety of antibiotics, but it has now spread globally and is resistant to both old and new classes of antibiotics. Of particular concern, some are even resistant to carbapenems, a class of antibiotics typically used to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, studies have shown.
DETECTED IN 16 COUNTRIES
The WHO report was the result of a request from the agency’s member states for information on the global prevalence of K. pneumoniae. The request yielded data from 43 countries and territories, 16 of which reported detecting hvKp. Twelve of the reporting countries said in a statement on July 31 that they had found a particularly worrisome strain of the bacteria called ST23, which carries genes that confer resistance to carbapenems and all current beta-lactam antibiotics. The United States was among the countries that detected hvKp bacteria overall, but not ST23.
TESTS SHOULD BE EXPANDED
The WHO statement said that globally, “the prevalence of hvKp-associated infections may be underestimated due to current surveillance limitations for these microbes.” The agency said awareness of these infections needs to be increased and testing for them needs to be expanded. This is important for monitoring the superbug in the population as a whole and for treating individual patients, because correctly identifying the bacteria is important for choosing the right treatment pathway, the agency said.
“The combination of hypervirulence and antibiotic resistance is expected to increase the risk of these strains spreading at both the community and hospital levels,” WHO concluded.