Harmless bacteria in the intestine turn into human cannibalism, killing 5 Chinese patients

HvKp are often found in Asian countries, not clear because they begin to spread from here or because they are more sensitive to yellow people.

Your gut is a home for billions of harmful bacteria and gums. One of the quite benign bacteria living in the intestine is Klebsiella pneumoniae . They drift harmlessly in the digestive tract, sometimes appearing both in the oral cavity and outside the skin.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is even more beneficial in inhibiting the growth of other harmful bacteria. Only, once it hypervirulent strain of K. pneumoniae (hvKp), you will face a real nightmare.

In 1980, doctors in Taiwan found out that the strain of hvKp can cause infection that leads to brain abscess and liver. hvKp also plays a form of human-eating bacteria causing necrosis from inside. It can kill a perfectly healthy person in just 1 day.

It is worth mentioning that, we do not have any way to distinguish between Klebsiella pneumoniae and hvKp virus. Doctors can only identify hvKp when symptoms have occurred on the patient, often it is too late.

When harmless bacteria in the gut turn into human cannibalism, it can kill you in just one day.

Early identification of hvKp and distinguishing it from Klebsiella pneumoniae is often a goal many scientists have pursued for many years.

At the University of Buffalo in America, Thomas Russo, head of the infectious department and his colleagues found hidden genetic tags in hvKp's DNA. These tags can be used to accurately and reliably identify Klebsiella pneumoniae virus.

"Currently, there are no common tests to accurately distinguish normal and hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae strains , " Russo said. "This study provides a clear roadmap of how a company can deliver. Develop such tests for use in clinical laboratories. It is absolutely necessary ".

Extremely necessary is actually a way of saying much less. In the past few years, pathologists have discovered a form of multi-drug resistance (MDR) of K. pneumoniae. This new form of virus is resistant to our strongest antibiotic.

Until this time, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant K. pneumoniae is still uncommon. But the rate is increasing and medical organizations put high vigilance on it. The scary scenario is that when hvKp combines with the virus and learns the ability to resist the last line of antibiotics . we will be in big trouble.

As soon as possible, there is a test to distinguish hvKp from the common K. pneumoniae which will be a victory for every patient who unfortunately has it. On a macro perspective, it will also be a tool for epidemiologists to monitor the spread of the virus, alerting drug resistance and signaling to the public when necessary.

Klebsiella pneumoniae are bacteria that live in our gut.

The bad scenario for K. pneumoniae can occur in two directions: One is that the hvKp can pick up the drug-resistant DNA in the environment where the MDR K. pneumoniae die. From there, they will learn how to resist all existing antibiotics.

Second, multidrug-resistant K. pneumoniae can transform into hvKp cannibalism. In fact, scenario number 2 happened earlier this year.'It is the cause of the death of five patients in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Hangzhou, China,' Russo said.

HvKp are often found in Asian countries, not clear because they begin to spread from here or because they are more sensitive to yellow people.

There are so many things we need to know about its K. pneumoniae and its two types of viruses. Currently, what the researchers aim to distinguish is exactly the form of hvKp.

Of course, closely monitoring these strains is essential. In addition, we must also find a way to solve antibiotic resistance in general. Finding new antibiotics to combat multidrug-resistant K. pneumoniae is also a solution.

Research on K. pneumoniae is published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.