| Klebsiella pneumoniae| |ICD-10||B96.1, G00.8, J15.0, P23.6|
|ICD-9||041.3, 320.82, 482.0| | Klebsiella pneumoniae|
Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative, non-motile,
encapsulated, lactose fermenting, facultative anaerobic, rod
shaped bacterium found in the normal flora of the mouth, skin,
and intestines. It is clinically the most important member of
the Klebsiella genus of Enterobacteriaceae; it is closely
related to K. oxytoca from which it is distinguished by being
indole-negative and by its ability to grow on both melezitose
and 3-hydroxybutyrate. It naturally occurs in the soil and about
30% of strains can fix nitrogen in anaerobic condition. As a
free-living diazotroph, its nitrogen fixation system has been
much studied. K. pneumoniae can cause bacterial pneumonia,
typically due to aspiration by alcoholics, though it is more
commonly implicated in hospital-acquired urinary tract and wound
infections, particularly in immunocompromised individuals.
Klebsiella ranks second to E. coli for urinary tract