Abstract:
Different Klebsiella species may vary with the type of infections they cause in both the community and
hospital environments. However, in many laboratories in developing countries, differentiation of the
genus Klebsiella into species is not generally done during bacteriological diagnosis due to high cost and
special skills involved. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of different Klebsiella species in
KATH and how they relate to patients’ demographic data. Two thousand one hundred and ninety seven
(2197) clinical specimens from the hospital were cultured on blood agar and MacConkey agar and the
isolates investigated. The isolates were identified to the species level using various biochemical tests.
Klebsiella species were recovered from 205 clinical samples (9.3% prevalence rate) with K. pneumoniae
being the highest recovered species (74.1%), followed by K. oxytoca (24.4%), K. rhinoscleromatis (1%)
and K. ozaenae (0.5%). Occurrence of Klebsiella isolates in the commonest clinical specimens were
sputum (14.1%), wound (12.6%), urine (10.7%) and blood (5.1%). The highest female cases were found
in urine and the highest male cases were found in sputum. There was no significant difference between
the out-patient and in-patient cases and among the sexes. The dominant species of Klebsiella infections
were K. pnuemoniae and K. oxytoca. Pneumonia, UTI, Wound infections and Sepsis are the common
infections of Klebsiella in Ghana. This study has also provided information for use in generating national
data on the prevalence of pathogens in Ghana.
