TABLE 1.

Demographic and clinical features that can assist in differentiating infection due to hypervirulent and classical K. pneumoniae strains^a

Parameter	Finding for pathotype
	hvKp	cKp
Location for the development of infection	More commonly the communityb	More commonly a health care setting
Host	All ages; often otherwise healthy	Older, with some form of compromise
Ethnic background	Often Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic	No ethnic predilection
Hepatic abscess	Usually occurs in the absence of biliary disease	Usually occurs in the presence of biliary disease
Number of sites of infection	Often multiple	Usually single
Unusual infectious syndromes for K. pneumoniae	Endophthalmitis, meningitis,c brain abscess, necrotizing fasciitis, splenic abscess, epidural abscess	None
Copathogens at the site of infection	Rare, usually monomicrobial	Not uncommon, especially with abdominal, soft tissue, or urinary catheter infection

^aThese are general features; exceptions occur. Definitive diagnosis requires identification of specific biomarkers, but assays for these markers are not presently FDA approved or routinely performed by clinical microbiology laboratories.

^bWith the advent of XDR cKp strains acquiring the hvKp virulence plasmid and thereby the hypervirulent phenotype, an increasing number of hvKp infections are developing in the health care setting; to date, this has been primarily reported from China.

^chvKp meningitis occurs in patients with a competent meningeal barrier (as opposed to those with an incompetent meningeal barrier, e.g., neonates or those who have undergone neurosurgery or trauma).