Klebsiella pneumoniae liver abscess is an invasive syndrome that mainly affects people living in East Asia. It especially affects adults with diabetes and is caused by hypervirulent strains that possess the rmpA gene (regulator of mucoid phenotype A), iron sequestering genes, and usually belong to capsule types K1 and K2. K. pneumoniae liver abscesses may arise from intestinal colonisation with hypervirulent strains; however, the prevalence of carriage of these strains in the local population in Singapore is not welldescribed. We were also interested to see if ethnicity (possibly because of dietary preferences) has an influence on the carriage of such strains.
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