Community-onset carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae urinary tract infections in infancy following NICU hospitalisation

Abstract

Introduction: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common bacterial infection in childhood with favourable outcome. However, the recent emergence of UTI caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens, such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), has become a great concern worldwide. CRE are mainly responsible for nosocomial infections and community-onset CRE infections in healthy individuals are rare.

Objectives: In this study, we report a series of infants without substantial genitourinary abnormalities that were admitted with community-onset urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) and we discuss their aetiology.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of nine infants who presented from community to the paediatric ward with CRKP urinary tract infections, as well as all affected neonates of a concomitant CRKP outbreak that occurred in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in a tertiary hospital (period from April 2009 to July 2012). We further retrieved all culture-proven CRKP infections of any site from 2007 to 2015 in our paediatric department.

Results: Over a 33-month period, nine infants, all males, aged 0.9-19.3 (median 4.0) months, were admitted to the Department of Paediatrics with UTI caused by CRKP. Three of them were diagnosed with urinary tract abnormalities but only one had vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), which was a UTI-associated one. History revealed that they had all been hospitalised in the same NICU during a concurrent long-lasting CRKP outbreak for a median of 17 (2-275) days and thereafter presented with CRKP UTI 15 to 207 (median 41) days after NICU discharge. The antibiotic susceptibility and phenotypic characteristics were identical among all isolates in NICU and the paediatric ward. The summary Figure shows a timeline of NICU hospitalisation indicative of its duration and subsequent CRKP UTI of study participants is presented.

Conclusions: These cases illustrate that UTI caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens does not necessarily imply an underlying urinary track anomaly. Hospital acquisition of CRKP may well provoke community-onset multidrug-resistant UTI in infants months later, and this highlights the value of detailed history in patients with unusual pathogens. Cautious use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in NICUs and infection control measures would minimise the spread of multidrug-resistant pathogens in infants in the community.

Keywords: Carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae; Neonatal intensive care unit; Urinary tract anomalies; Urinary tract infection.