Detection of some β-lactamase Genes in <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i> Isolated from some Baghdad Hospitals, Iraq

Background: Multi-Drug-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (MDR K. pneumoniae) is considered as an important opportunistic pathogen, which causes life threatening infections. K. pneumoniae is known to causes life-threatening infections. Objective: The objective of this study is to detect some β-lactamase genes inKlebsiella pneumoniae. Methods: Thirty-five K. pneumoniae isolates were obtained from some hospitals in Baghdad City between October 2022 and February 2023. The identification of K. pneumoniae isolates was done phenotypically by the automated VITEK II system and genotypically by amplification of the rpob gene. The antibiotic susceptibility and detection of some β-lactamase genes were tested for all isolates. Results: The results showed that the K. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to most antibiotics used. A high percentage of K. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to cefixime, cefpodoxime, norfloxacin and doxycycline as 100% followed by ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, ticarcillin/clavulanate, ticarcillin, ceftazidime, tobramycin, and moxifloxacin (97.2%, 91.7%, 91.7%, 94.4%, 94.4%, and 94.4%, respectively). Furthermore, approximately 94.4% of the isolates were MDR. In addition, the molecular methods only detected the blaNDM and blaT EM genes as 33.3% and 75.6% of in the K. pneumoniae isolates, respectively, while the blaV IM, blaCTX−M, and blaKP C genes were not observed in K. pneumoniae isolates. Conclusions: β-lactam antibiotics, including carbapenems, are widely used to treat bacterial infections; however, an increase in antibiotic resistance due to β-lactamases limits the effectiveness of these antibiotics. Therefore, alternative treatment methods are required to control these resistant isolates.