Epidemiology and outcome of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in a tertiary level Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

Klebsiella pneumoniae producing KPC-type carbapenemase (KPC-Kp) is anemerging multi-drug-resistant pathogen causing high mortality nosocomialinfections. This retrospective study was conducted in a 6-bed tertiary level cardiac intensive care unit (ICU), which is also referral center for heart failure and primitive pulmonary hypertension. In order to limit the spread of KPC-Kp, we adopted a screening protocol included cohort isolation of patients transferred from other ICUs (via rehabilitation or long-term care facilities) and screening for KPC-Kp in both rectal swabs4 and in bronchial aspirate using culture and phenylboronic acid-based phenotypic tests. Our experience, limited by the small number of patients, emphasizes that KPC-Kp infection is an highly lethal emerging problem, not only in infectious diseases and in the ICU. Furthermore, our data underline the importance of cohort isolation and rapid microbiological screening as measures to limit the KPC- Kp spread.