The present study demonstrates that children may be asymptomatically colonized in the respiratory tract by virulent K. kingae clones. The organism is transmitted from child-to-child through intimate contact. Some strains exhibit increased fitness and are maintained in the population for prolonged periods.

Only a small proportion of eligible patients reach the intensive care unit, and early admission is imperative for their survival advantage. As intensive care unit benefit was most pronounced among those deteriorating on hospital wards, intensive care unit triage decisions should be targeted at maximizing intensive care unit benefit by early admitting patients deteriorating on hospital wards.