Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A nonmotile, gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium of the genus Klebsiella, such as K. pneumoniae, that causes pneumonia and other infections usually in patients with diminished immunity, such as diabetics and alcoholics.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a genus of nonmotile rod-shaped Gram-negative enterobacteria; some cause respiratory and other infections

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin, genus name, after Edwin Klebs, (1834–1913), German-American pathologist born in Königsberg (Kaliningrad).]

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Examples

  • I also had a "klebsiella pneumonia" wound infection, gone untested, and untreated.

    In Defense of the Hysterectomy aka TBTAM 2007

  • (The doctor who removed my sex organs, sent me a certified letter dismissing me as a patient and had me view graphic vaginal photos on a web site called, ourgyn, and told me I had Vulvodynia, and that the "klebsiella pneumonia", wound infection, was caused by sexual partners, or my partners, partners)

    In Defense of the Hysterectomy aka TBTAM 2007

  • They have hard-to-pronounce names, such as acenobacter, klebsiella, pseudomonas, but there are two things to sort of keep in mind about these bacteria, one is that they are increasing, certainly in numbers, especially in hospitals and as things stand now, they're nearly impossible to treat.

    CNN Transcript Feb 18, 2009 2009

  • Five months ago, five babies died in the same ward, while two more were infected with the klebsiella bacteria.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • "At this stage the babies are only suspected of having died of klebsiella."

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • "The signs of our health system heading for a disaster are there for all of us to see, whether it is scores of babies dying of drinking contaminated water or babies dying of klebsiella ..."

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • In the provincial legislature on Tuesday, the department's chief operations officer Nhlanhla Nkosi said there was "inconclusive evidence" to suggest that the deaths were linked to klebsiella.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • "The doctors on duty followed the normal procedure in suggesting klebsiella might be the cause of death," Mbangwa said.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • Health MEC Peggy Nkonyeni said klebsiella outbreaks were a

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • The KwaZulu-Natal health department has denied that there is an outbreak of klebsiella at Durban's Prince Mshiyeni Hospital, the

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

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