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Emergence and persistent spread of carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae high-risk clones in Greek hospitals, 2013 to 2022
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAnke Kohlenberganke.kohlenberg ecdc.europa.eu
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Members of the Greek CCRE study group: Efstathia Perivolioti, Petros Andrikogiannopoulos, Athina Argyropoulou, Spyros Pournaras, Sofia Vourli, Panagiota Christina Georgiou, Konstantinos Stamoulos, Gerasimos-Socrates Christodoulatos, Iosif Ntarouis, Sofia Varveraki, Christos Konsolakis, Kalliopi Panteli, Olympia Zarkotou, Nektaria Rekleiti, Elisavet Kousouli, Marina Papadogianni, Kalina Zervaki, Tatiana Gavrilidi, Maria Panopoulou, Nikolaos Lemonakis, Anastasia Grapsa, Theodoros Karampatakis, Eleni Kandilioti, Tania Gkiti, Paraskevi Karapavlidou, Christos Sideris, Evangelia Dafa, Konstantina Gartzonika, Christos Kittas, Nikoletta Karavasili, Stelios Xytsas, Katerina Tsilipounidaki, Efthymia Petinaki, Aggeliki Pasxali, Glykeria Sorovou, Efrosini Krikoni, Christina Bartzavali, Fevronia Kolonitsiou, Fotini Paliogianni, Christina Kaminioti, Christina Mparka, Dimitra Petropoulou, Panagiota Giannopoulou, Nikoletta Charalampaki, Penelope KappouView Citation Hide Citation
Citation style for this article: . Emergence and persistent spread of carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae high-risk clones in Greek hospitals, 2013 to 2022. Euro Surveill. 2023;28(47):pii=2300571. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.47.2300571 Received: 19 Oct 2023; Accepted: 17 Nov 2023
Abstract
Preliminary unpublished results of the survey of carbapenem- and/or colistin-resistant Enterobacterales (CCRE survey) showed the expansion of carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (CPKP) sequence type (ST) 39 in 12 of 15 participating Greek hospitals in 2019.
We conducted a rapid survey to determine the extent of spread of CPKP high-risk clones in Greek hospitals in 2022 and compare the distribution of circulating CPKP clones in these hospitals since 2013.
We analysed whole genome sequences and epidemiological data of 310 K. pneumoniae isolates that were carbapenem-resistant or ‘susceptible, increased exposure’ from Greek hospitals that participated in the European survey of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (EuSCAPE, 2013–2014), in the CCRE survey (2019) and in a national follow-up survey (2022) including, for the latter, an estimation of transmission events.
Five K. pneumoniae STs including ST258/512 (n = 101 isolates), ST11 (n = 93), ST39 (n = 56), ST147 (n = 21) and ST323 (n = 13) accounted for more than 90% of CPKP isolates in the dataset. While ST11, ST147 and ST258/512 have been detected in participating hospitals since 2013 and 2014, KPC-2-producing ST39 and ST323 emerged in 2019 and 2022, respectively. Based on the defined genetic relatedness cut-off, 44 within-hospital transmission events were identified in the 2022 survey dataset, with 12 of 15 participating hospitals having at least one within-hospital transmission event.
The recent emergence and rapid spread of new high-risk K. pneumoniae clones in the Greek healthcare system related to within-hospital transmission is of concern and highlights the need for molecular surveillance and enhanced infection prevention and control measures.
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