Isolation and Characterization of Klebsiella pneumoniae from Respiratory Infection of Yak (Bos grunniens), India

Yak (Bos grunniens) is multipurpose long haired ruminant reared by the poor tribal farmers for wool, milk, meat, etc in the high altitudes of Himalayan region of Indian Territory. There is a serious concern about increasing morbidity and mortality of yak due to respiratory diseases. Nasal swab sample was collected from pneumonic yak in Amies charcoal transport media from Arunachal Pradesh, India and processed for bacterial isolation and identification and direct PCR detection in 18h BHI enriched broth sample. Based on biochemical characteristics and multiplex PCR, the culture was identified as K. pneumoniae (isolate No. KP1) and in in-vitro antibiotic sensitivity test, the isolate was resistant to ampicillin. The 16S rRNA sequence analysis and 16S rRNA secondary structure prediction revealed close geographical relatedness to environmental K. pneumoniae PB12 from River Mahananda from East India and K. pneumoniae JPR 9 isolated from soil samples of Assam. This study describes pneumonia in yak due to K. pneumoniae from Arunachal Pradesh, India by direct PCR detection from enriched clinical sample, isolation, PCR and 16S rRNA sequence, phylogenetic and secondary structure relation studies.