Isolation and Genetic Identification of Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolated from the Nasal Cavity of BBIBP-CorV Vaccinated Recipients, Basra City, Iraq

COVID-19 brought about new medical challenges, which, together with nosocomial bacterial infections, resulted in an enormous burden for the healthcare system. Given the potential for K. pneumoniae to cause opportunistic infections, this study investigated its nasal carriage and resistance patterns in BBIBP-CorV recipients to assess clinical risks. Nasal swab samples were collected from 60 individuals, including 38 males and 22 females with age ranges ranging from 18 to 22 years, from the beginning of October 2021 to the end of March 2022. Specimens have been collected with the authorization of the Basrah vaccination center, south of Iraq, from BBIBP-CorV vaccinated recipient individuals who show no COVID-19-like symptoms. The nasal swab was cultured in brain-heart infusion broth for 24 hours, then streaked on blood agar and MacConkey agar, and then DNA extraction was done for the recovered pure isolate, and the 16SrRNA gene was amplified using universal primers. 55 samples of amplified gene products were sent to sequencing at the Macrogen Company in South Korea. Antibiotic susceptibility were done for the isolated bacteria by using the Vitek 2 instrument. The result shows that out of 55 isolates, 15 of them belong to Klebsiella pneumoniae species, and the result of antibiotic sensitivity shows that 86.66% of K. pneumoniae were sensitive to Amikacin and Gentamicin as well as 80% sensitive to Tobramycin, Piperacillin/Tazobactam, Azteronam, Cefepime, Ceftazidime, and Ciprofloxacin. The highest sensitivity was 93.33% for carbapenems, and the highest resistance was in the penicillins, so that ticarcillin was 66.66% and piperacillin was 46.66%.