European health authorities have raised alarms about the growing expansion ‘Klebsiella pneumonia‘ (hvKP)multi-resistant intestinal bacteria that World Health Organization (WHO) considered especially dangerous.
In this sense, European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) released warning report an increase spread of this bacterium on European territory.
Intestinal bacteria
Klebsiella pneumonia is a bacterium. intestinal which can cause serious infections such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections and infections in newborns. What is particularly worrying is that antibiotic resistance
, which, in turn, makes it difficult to treat the infections it causes.Number of countries in European Union
who notified presence of bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae has increased from 4 to 10, while the quantity reported cases on European soil left from 12 to 143according to the notice.
Resistant to some antibiotics
Health authorities’ biggest concern is hypervirulent strain of bacteriawho purchased genes that make it resistant To antibiotics as a last resort. This means that infections caused by these bacteria are becoming more common. more difficult to treat.
Dominique Monnet, Head of Antimicrobial Resistance and Infections at ECDC, described the situation as “anxious” and stressed the need to take action to prevent further spread of the bacteria.
Measures to control expansion
ECDC recommended a number expansion control actions Klebsiella pneumonia. Recommended measures include alerts to doctors and clinical microbiological laboratories; Creation sufficient laboratory capacity detect isolates hvKP, including whole genome sequencing; presentation of everyone suspicious isolates to national reference laboratories and improving prevention and control measures infections in affected medical facilities.
The ECDC also recognized the need for further research into the bacteria to better understand how it spreads and how it can be controlled. Moreover, he adds that antibiotic resistance is one of the major threats to global health.