The sugar-loving Klebsiella pneumoniae, that resembles a squished-up earplug, can strike fear into the hearts of surgeons and scientists. The bacterium can repel even the most powerful antibiotics. It has pumps that can eject most antibiotics that breach its cell wall. More worryingly, this pathogen has begun producing an enzyme that renders a sophisticated class of antibiotics called carbapenems useless.
Healthy people usually don’t get
Klebsiella infections, but its presence in an ICU can be a harbinger of death for immune-compromised patients. “When the bacteria enter the bloodstream, doctors stand by helplessly as a patient dies of multiple organ failure,” says microbiologist Dr. V. Bala subramanian.

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