K. V. Ramana

Department of Microbiology, Prathima Institude of Medical Sciences, Nagunur, Karimnagar, India-505417
Author    Correspondence author
Molecular Pathogens, 2013, Vol. 4, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/mp.2013.04.0001
Received: 30 Jun., 2013    Accepted: 10 Jul., 2013    Published: 26 Sep., 2013

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

K.V. Ramana, 2013, Kingella kingae a Potentially Emerging Pathogen: a Comprehensive Review, Molecular Pathogens, Vol.4, No.1 1-8 (doi: 10.5376/mp.2013.04.0001)

Kingella kingae are a group of fastidious Gram negative bacilli that were first described way back in 1960's as CDC group M-1. Initially placed in moraxella family, Kingella spp have later been classified separately under Neisseriaceae family. Kingella kingae is the most common species responsible for human infections and is characterized along with other fastidious bacteria named as HACEK group. Kingella kingae, K. denitrificans, K indologenes and K oralis are few species of Kingella. Kingella kingae has gradually evolved from a bacterium that normally colonizes oral cavity, upper respiratory tract and genital tract in to a potential pathogen in children and debilitated patients. Recent trends of Kingella kingae infections among adult population should be considered as an alarming signal. The spectrum of infections, indifferent cultural and biochemical characters, antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, complex pathogenicity and genetic polymorphism has attracted a lot of interested among paediatricians, orthopedicians and clinical microbiologists.

Kingella kingae; Pathogen; Colonization