Detection of klebsiella pneumoniae using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) / Rabiatul Adawiyah Azman

Klebsiella pneumoniae is the gram-negative bacteria that most frequently encountered by the physician worldwide due to their ability to cause nosocomial infections such as nosocomial pneumoma, urinary tract infections, and intraabdominal infections. It is also a potential community-acquired pathogen causing primary liver abscesses, metastatic meningitis and endophthalmitis. The laboratory identification of these bacteria may be time-consuming. So, the purpose of this study was to develop a Polymerase Chain Reaction method for the rapid identification of the K. pneumoniae which is critical for the definitive diagnosis of the disease caused by those bacteria. Four pairs of primer have been designed to aid with the identification of these bacteria through the selected genes. The detection using PCR has revealed that K. pneumoniae was specific to those selected genes because the bands from gel electrophoresis of PCR products appeared when viewed under UV. Thus, PCR method developed is successful in detecting the Klebsiella pneumoniae rapidly and specifically.