International Specialty Supply
Supplying Sprout Companies Throughout the World
|
International Specialty Supply Supplying Sprout Companies Throughout the World
|
|
820 East 20th Street Cookeville, TN 38501 USA 931 526 1106
|
Klebsiella We all have millions of bacteria in our
gastrointestinal tracts, primarily in the colon (or "large" bowel).
These bacteria are important for normal bowel health and function. Klebsiella is
the genus name for one of these bacteria found in the respiratory, intestinal,
and urinogenital tracts of animals and man.
When Klebsiella bacteria get outside of the gut, however, serious
infection can occur. K. pneumoniae is second only to E. coli
as a urinary tract pathogen. Klebsiella infections are encountered far more
often now than in the past. This is probably due to the bacterium's antibiotic
resistance properties. Klebsiella pneumoniae is known as a
resident of the intestinal track in about 40% of man and animals. It is
considered to be an opportunistic human pathogen meaning that under certain
conditions it may cause disease. For example, nosocomial infections are those
that hospitalized patients pick up because they are in a weakened state1,2. Klebsiella pneumoniae is also well known
in the environment and can be cultured from soil, water and vegetables. In fact,
it is likely that we have K. pneumoniae in our intestine from eating raw foods
such as salads. Two research papers on surveys of bacteria in sprouts found K.
pneumoniae to be a predominant part of the microflora3.
One research paper found 4% of the lettuce they tested contained
Klebsiella pneumoniae4. As a general rule, Klebsiella infections
tend to occur in people with a weakened immune system. Many of these infections
are obtained when a person is in the hospital for some other reason. The most
common infection caused by Klebsiella bacteria outside the hospital is
pneumonia. Klebsiella pneumonia tends to affect
people with underlying diseases, such as alcoholism, diabetes and chronic lung
disease. Classically, Klebsiella pneumonia causes a severe, rapid-onset illness
that often causes areas of destruction in the lung. Infected persons generally get high
fever, chills, flu-like symptoms and a cough productive of a lot of mucous. The
mucous (or sputum) that is coughed up is often thick and blood tinged and has
been referred to as "currant jelly" sputum due to its appearance. Mortality in Klebsiella pneumonia is
around 50% due to the underlying disease that tends to be present in affected
persons. While normal pneumonia frequently resolves without complication,
Klebsiella pneumonia more frequently causes lung destruction and pockets of pus
in the lung (known as abscesses). The mortality rate for untreated cases is
around 90%. There may also be pus surrounding the
lung (known as empyema), which can be very irritating to the delicate lung
tissue and can cause scar tissue to form. At times, surgery may be needed to
"rescue" a lung that is trapped in irregular pockets of pus and scar
tissue. Klebsiella can also cause less serious
respiratory infections, such as bronchitis, which is usually a hospital-acquired
infection. Other common hospital-acquired infections caused by Klebsiella are
urinary tract infections, surgical wound infections and infection of the blood.
All of these infections can progress to shock and death if not treated early in
an aggressive fashion. Many hospital-acquired infections occur
because of the invasive treatments that are often needed in hospitalized
patients. For example, intravenous catheters used for fluid administration,
catheters placed in the bladder for urine drainage and breathing tubes for
people on a breathing machine can all increase the susceptibility to infection. While these devices may be needed in
certain patients, they allow bacteria to bypass the natural barriers to
infection and get into a person’s body. The result may be an infection if the
person’s immune system cannot fight the bacteria. Unfortunately, the people
who need invasive treatments often have weakened immune systems because of their
underlying disease. Klebsiella bacteria are a part of normal
life and live inside almost all of us. Although it is something we generally
don’t like to think about, we need Klebsiella in our colon to keep us healthy.
Unfortunately, once Klebsiella escapes the gut, it can be one nasty bacterium. Sprouts
in Canada have been recalled because of the presence of Klebsiella
pneumoniae, though there are no reported illnesses associated with sprouts. Sprout
growers have the opportunity, through seed sampling and testing, sanitizing, and
post testing, to produce the safest “leafy green vegetables” on the market.
1Eickhoff,
T. C. 1972. Klebsiella pneumoniae infection: a review with reference to the
water-borne epidemiologic significance of K. pneumoniae presence in the natural
environment. national Council of the Paper Industry for Air and Stream
Improvement, Inc. Technical Bulletin no. 254, New York, N.Y. 2Martin, W.
J., P., K. W. Yu, and J. A. Washington. 1971. Epidemiological significance of
Klebsiella pneumoniae - a 3 month study. Mayo C.in. Proc. 46:785-793. 3) Selden,
R., S. Lee, W. L. L. Wang, J. v. Bennett and T. C. Eickhoff. 1971. Nosocomial
Klebsiella infections: intestinal colonization as resevoir. Ann. Intern. Med.
74:657-664.] 3J.E. Patterson, and M. J. Woodburn, 1980. Journal of food Science 45:492-495 and D. F. Splittstoesser, D. T. Queale & B. W. Andaloro. 1983. The microbiology of vegetable sprouts during commercial production. Journal of Food Safety 5:79-86.). 4Soriano JM, Rico H, Molto JC, Manes J., Int J Food Microbiol 2000 Jun 30;58(1-2):123-8, Assessment of the Microbiological Quality and Wash Treatments of Lettuce Served in University Restaurants.
|
