A gut resident that turns opportunist in healthcare settings, and a focus of carbapenem-resistance concern. Explore its illustrative 3D model, human context, and sources.
CDC describes Klebsiella as bacteria normally found in human stool, where they do not cause disease, and states that healthy people usually do not get Klebsiella infections. In healthcare settings the same organism causes pneumonia, bloodstream infections, wound or surgical site infections and meningitis, most often in patients already being treated for other conditions. PHAC records carriage in stool for roughly a third of people, with detection between 5 and 36%, and describes non-motile, usually encapsulated rods. Some strains resist carbapenems, an antibiotic group CDC calls often the last line of defence.
Carrying Klebsiella in stool is normal and is not infection. Risk concentrates in healthcare settings: CDC names ventilators, intravenous catheters and prolonged antibiotic courses as the highest-risk exposures and states that healthy people usually do not get these infections. Resistance, including to carbapenems, changes treatment options rather than making the organism universally dangerous.
Original schematic 3D phenotype. PHAC describes Gram-negative, non-motile, usually encapsulated rod-shaped bacteria of the Enterobacteriaceae, with family members ranging from 0.3 to 1.0 micrometres wide and 0.6 to 6.0 micrometres long, and facultatively anaerobic. A prominent capsule is supported and flagella are not: this silhouette should read as a plump, capsulated, appendage-free rod, unlike the flagellated enteric rods elsewhere in the catalogue. Colours, dimensions, layer thicknesses and displayed arrangements are diagram choices, not a measured individual cell. Independent scientific review remains pending.
Source check: 2026-09-19. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.