Klebsiella pulmonary infections: occurrence at one medical center and review

Klebsiella pneumoniae is the species of aerobic gram-negative bacteria most commonly recognized as a cause of community-acquired pneumonia. The vast majority of articles concerning the epidemiology, frequency, and clinical and radiographic features of community-acquired pneumonias caused by this organism are over 20 years old. Experience with community-acquired pneumonias due to K. pneumoniae at one medical center over the last 20 years is reported and compared with the previously published literature. The recent experience at Parkland Memorial is quite similar to that in the literature. Salient features include the infrequency of K. pneumoniae as a cause of community-acquired pneumonia, the lack of specificity and sensitivity of most clinical and radiographic findings, and the similarity to and potential confusion with anaerobic pneumonitis and cavitary lung disease if only expectorated sputums are utilized for diagnosis in certain population groups such as alcoholics.