Genomic relatedness of colonizing and invasive disease Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in South African infants
Klebsiella pneumoniae (KPn) colonizes multiple anatomical sites and is a leading cause of invasive disease and death in African children; however, there is no comparative genomic analysis between colonizing and invasive strains. This study investigated the genomic relatedness of KPn colonizing and invasive isolates in South African infants; and evaluated the relative invasiveness of KPn isolates based on sequence types (ST), capsular (KL), and lipopolysaccharide (O) loci by calculating case-carrier ratios (CCRs). There was less genomic diversity amongst invasive (22 ST, 17 K-loci) than colonizing isolates (31 ST, 29 K-loci), with invasive isolates being 8.59-fold and 3.49-fold more likely to harbour genes encoding for multi-drug resistance and yersiniabactin production compared with colonizing isolates. The CCRs for KL102 and O1/O2v2 were > 1, and < 1 for KL8, ST1414, and O1O2v1. Identifying high-risk strains, including KL102 and O1O2v2, that may have a higher potential to cause invasive disease, could enhance risk assessment and management strategies in vulnerable populations.
Authors
- Gaurav Kwatra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2032-1975)
- Mohamed Said (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2610-0440)
- Courtney P. Olwagen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3674-8415)
- Nicholas John Dean (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9995-0687)
- Anika M. van Niekerk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0091-2810)
- Alane Izu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5547-7223)
- Renate Strehlau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9113-6584)
- Raphael Simon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4136-0948)
- Lubomira Andrew
- Shama Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0874-5029)
- Yogandree Ramsamy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7112-8392)
- Firdose Nakwa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8884-2517)
- Lara Van der Merwe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3924-8105)
- Shabir Ahmed Madhi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7629-0636)
- Fikile C. Mabena (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1836-0621)
- Sithembiso Velaphi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9219-8485)
- Urvi Rajyaguru
- Ziyaad Dangor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4089-147X)
- Robert G. K. Donald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1002-954X)
- Jeannette Wadula
- Niree Naidoo
- Stephanie Jones
Institutions
- National Health Laboratory Service (ZA)
- South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- Christian Medical College, Vellore (IN)
- Pfizer (United States) (US)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (ZA)
- University of Cincinnati (US)
- University of Pretoria (ZA)
- University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2025-03-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92517-4
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.36
Funders
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Pfizer