Klebsiella Pneumoniae Treatment, Symptoms & Definition: Meat Directly Linked to Pathogen

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With all the different types of bacteria and viruses causing infection and diseases to people, one might think that we have seen it all. However, it looks like a new breed of super bacteria has been discovered and experts are branding it as an urgent threat to public health because it is highly resistant to drugs and treatment.

According to the Press Examiner, a bacterium called Klebsiella pneumoniae is being spread from the most unlikely source - meat sold in grocery stores. Dr. James R. Johnson, professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota and coauthor of the study, explains that as an infectious disease doctor, this bacterium is often seen in the types of patients he treat. They have previously thought that it was gotten from the air or environment but the study found out that it was pick up from improper handling or eating meat products.

In a study that has been published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, Klebsiella pneumoniae has been isolated from retail meat products in nine major grocery stores in Arizona last 2012 and in clinical samples from people suffering from the same infections within the area, Huffington Post reports. The bacteria can colonize in the human intestines without symptoms and only begins to show signs of infections once it spreads in the urinary tract, lungs or blood.

Further more, the study has also learned that Klebsiella pneumoniae is tolerant to most antibiotics used in food animal productions. While more studies are need to establish a direct link, it is alarming to discover that the overuse of antibiotics during food animal production can lead to highly-resistant bugs that can pose a fatal threat to individuals.

The National Geographic adds that Dr. Johnson and his co-author, Dr. Lance Price, a molecular biologist, believe that Klebsiella may be behaving similarly to that of E. coli, another organism that contaminates most hospitals.

Their team from the George Washington University has isolated 508 packs of chicken, turkey and pork from the Flagstaff supermarkets for a period of ten months. Then, they have compared it to the urine samples of 1728 patients from the Flagstaff hospital. The findings have shown that 10 percent of the patients and 47 percent of the meat samples are positive for Klebsiella.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines Klebsiella as a type of bacteria that can cause several types of medical-related infections like pneumonia, blood infections, wound infections, and meningitis.

CDC warns individuals to practice strict hand hygiene especially if working in a hospital, where the dangers of spreading the infection is increased. The public is advised to seek medical attention if symptoms are experienced for proper diagnosis and treatment. Some of its strains are highly-resistant to antibiotics but once correctly identified, doctors believe it can be treated.