Carbapenem-resistant hypermucoviscous Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical isolates from a tertiary hospital in China: Antimicrobial susceptibility, resistance phenotype, epidemiological characteristics, microbial virulence, and risk factors

Hypervirulent and multidrug-resistant poses a significant threat to public health. We aimed to determine the common carbapenemase genotypes and the carriage patterns, main antibiotic resistance mechanisms, and susceptibility of clinical isolates of carbapenem-resistant (CRKP) to ceftazidime/avibactam (CZA) for the reasonable selection of antimicrobial agents and determine whether hypermucoviscous (HMV) phenotype and virulence-associated genes are key factors for CRKP colonization and persistence. Antibiotics susceptibility of clinical CRKP isolates and carbapenemase types were detected. CRKP isolates were identified as hypermucoviscous (HMKP) using the string test, and detection of virulence gene was performed using capsular serotyping. The , , , and/or were detected in 96.4% (402/417) of the isolates, and the (64.7%, 260/402) was significantly higher (