Progress in pathogenic mechanism of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae ( hvKP) mainly infects healthy people and causes serious infections, such as liver abscess, meningitis, necrotizing fasciitis, endophthalmitis and severe pneu-monia. Studies have shown that hvKP is more virulent than classic Klebsiella pneumoniae characterized by ex-pressing more capsular polysaccharide and carrying the virulence factors including magA, rmpA and iron ac-quisition molecules. The greater survival and anti-phagocytosis abilities of hvKP strains contribute to the spread and metastasis of hvKP infection. This review describes the virulence factors, colonization and infec-tion of hvKP as well as the host immunity to hvKP.