| Klebsiella pneumoniae complex (KPC) accounts for approximately one-third of all Gram-negative infections. Moreover, it is
highly resistant and can taxonomically be distributed into KpI, KpII, and KpIII phylogroups. ,is study aimed to investigate the
distribution of phylogenetic groups and the relationship between them and antibiotic resistance patterns. For this purpose, we
collected KPC isolates from Tabriz, Iran, between 2018 and 2020. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by disk
diffusion agar, and phylogenetic groups were then examined using gyrA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and
parC PCR methods. A total of 100 KPC isolates were obtained from the clinical specimens (urine, respiratory secretion, blood,
wounds, and trachea). ,e enrolled patients included 47 men and 53 women aged from 1 to 91 years old. ,e highest sensitivity
was found related to fosfomycin as 85%, followed by amikacin as 66%. ,e three phylogenetically groups by the RFLP-PCR
method were found in KPC, 96% (96 isolates) as KpI, 3% (3 isolates) as KpII, and 1% (1isolate) as KpIII. ,e highest antibiotic
resistance was observed in KpI. It was shown that a valid identification of three phylogenetic groups of KPC can be done by
combining both gyrA PCR-RFLP and parC PCR. Of note, the KpI group was also observed as the dominant phylogenetic group
with the highest resistance to antibiotics. |