ACTION POINT

I am a lecturer in the department of Microbiology and Biotechnology at Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria. Looking at the current challenges we face in this part of the world where I come from and the level of poverty and inability for some residence have access to potable water, I put out this call for action.

Nature of the issue that the International Development Committee could explore

Since the role of the committee is to examine how the Government’s policy and spending supports lower-income partner countries in efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and improve development.

It is expedient that leveraging on the alarming incidences of antibiotics resistance Klebsiella sp in freshwater habitat, a look into the persistence reoccurrence of incidences of Klebsiella pneumoniae in freshwater habitat of low income countries will be of critical importance.

Overuse of antibiotics has led to the emergence of multidrug resistance in many species, which is a global health concern. Urinary tract, biliary, and respiratory infections are caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae, which first affects people with compromised immune systems.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is the most common and clinically significant of the pathogenic Klebsiella species, mostly affecting patients with compromised host defenses and typically acquired in hospitals (nosocomial infections), and a significant opportunistic pathogen. Because of its high rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Klebsiella pneumoniae has recently been recognized as a major threat to global public health by the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Union, and other organizations (Wyres and Holt, 2016) and www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/ar-threats-2013-508.pdf. Although the exact amount of Klebsiella pneumoniae’s contribution to the AMR crisis cannot be determined, recent data indicates that it differs from other Gram-negative opportunists in its ecological distribution, DNA composition, AMR gene diversity, and plasmid burden (Wyres and Holt, 2018).

It is worth noting, according to a number of studies, Klebsiella isolates from the environment are almost the same as clinical isolates in terms of a number of phenotypic characteristics (Struve and Krogfelt, 2004). However, not much is known about the pathogenic potential of environmental Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates. It is therefore pertinent to study this environmental isolate and probably find out its persistence recurrence in the freshwater habitat of low income countries and look into surveillance measures in controlling and managing this potential public health treat.

With significant resistance to both older and newer antibiotics, rising resistance over time, regional disparities, and methodological variations, studies should highlight the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae strains especially in the recent development noticed in freshwater habitat of developing countries, where majority use these sources of water for consumption and consume some of the water organisms as food.

We contend that in order to gain a deeper understanding of the biology of this clinically as well as environmental significant bacterium, more extensive comparative and functional genomics research is desperately needed. And as stated by Beig et al. (2024), international cooperation, standardized testing, and customized regional interventions are necessary for effective responses.

References

Beig, M., Aghamohammad, S., Majidzadeh, N., Asforooshani, M. K., Rezaie, N., Abed, S., Khiavi, E. H. G. and Sholeh, M. (2024). Antibiotic resistance rates in hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae strains: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance, 38: 376-388. ISSN 2213-7165, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgar.2024.06.018.

Struve, C. and Krogfelt, K. A. (2004). Pathogenic potential of environmental Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates. Environ Microbiol., 6(6): 584-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2004.00590.x. PMID: 15142246.

Wyres, K. L. and Holt, K. E. (2016). Klebsiella pneumoniae Population Genomics and Antimicrobial-Resistant Clones, Trends in Microbiology, 24 (12): 944-956. ISSN 0966-842X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2016.09.007.

Wyres, K. L. and Holt, K. E. (2018). Klebsiella pneumoniae as a key trafficker of drug resistance genes from environmental to clinically important bacteria, Current Opinion in Microbiology, 45: 131-139, ISSN 1369 5274, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2018.04.004.