Seroepidemiology of clinical isolates of Klebsiella in Connecticut

Abstract

The distribution of capsular serotypes of 200 clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella oxytoca from four Connecticut hospitals was determined. Serotyping was done by an indirect fluorescent-antibody technique. Hospitals included three community hospitals from the Hartford area and one university hospital in New Haven. During the test period, epidemiological surveillance did not detect any nosocomial epidemic involving Klebsiella species. Ninety-two percent of the isolates were typable. Of the 72 possible serotypes, 62 were represented among these strains. Forty-two percent of the typable strains were distributed among 10 serotypes. The predominant serotypes were types 31, 22, and 18 representing 19% of the typable strains (8, 6, and 5%, respectively). No one particular serotype was associated exclusively with a specific site of infection.