Volume: 56 Issue: 1
Year: 2025, Page: 136-140, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2025.56.1.136-140
Received: Sept. 30, 2024 Accepted: Dec. 12, 2024 Published: March 31, 2025
Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium commonly found in the environment, especially soil. This study aimed to explore the prevalence and molecular detection of K. pneumoniae in soil samples from 50 dairy farms in Thrissur, Kerala. A total of 50 soil samples were collected, processed and analysed using conventional culture techniques, followed by molecular confirmation through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the rpoB gene. Out of the 50 samples, 38 (76 %) tested positive for K. pneumoniae using cultural methods and 36 (94.73 %) were confirmed by PCR. Additionally, eight per cent of the isolates exhibited the hypermucoviscosity phenotype, a key indicator of heightened virulence. This study found an occurrence of K. pneumoniae in soil, with a detection rate of 72 per cent. The results suggest that soil in dairy farms could act as an environmental reservoir for K. pneumoniae, potentially impacting environmental, animal and human systems. Its increasing resistance to antimicrobials also poses a serious public health threat due to limited treatment options. This research emphasises the need for long-term surveillance and further investigation into the environmental factors promoting the persistence and virulence of K. pneumoniae in soil ecosystems.
Keywords: Klebsiella pneumoniae, soil reservoirs, hypervirulent strains
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© 2025 Ananya et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Ananya. MSVB., Mathew. B., Sunil. B., Sethulekshmi. C., Vijay. D., and Bunglavan. S. J. 2025. Exploring the occurrence of Klebsiella pneumoniae in dairy farm soil.
J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 56 (1):136-140