clinical features

Last reviewed 01/2018

Some characteristic features of Klebsiella pneumonia are presented below:

• most common in men over 40 years of age and is most frequently found in alcoholics
• other predisposing factors are heart or lung disease, diabetes and malignancy
• onset is often sudden with severe systemic upset (high fever, rigors) and pleuritic pain
• sputum is purulent, gelatinous or blood-stained (haemoptysis occurs more often than in most bacterial pneumonias)
• consolidation is usually seen in the upper lobes and may be extensive - swelling of the infected lobe may result in bulging of the fissures on the lateral chest X-ray
• there may be marked necrosis and cavitation
• lung abscess and empyema are more common than in pneumococcal pneumonia
• mortality is 20-50%