Zahra Askari, Zeynab Mirzapour, Seyedeh Tooba Shafighi, Reyhaneh Ghorbanpour,
Volume 19, Issue 1 (4-2025)
Abstract
Background and objectives: Urinary tract infection (UTI) caused by Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is a worldwide health problem. Virulence factors (VFs) expressed by UPEC strains promote the pathogenicity of bacteria in the urinary tract. Treatment of the infection is often difficult due to the high antimicrobial resistance of E. coli. This study aimed to determine VFs and the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of isolated UPEC strains in the north of Iran.
Methods: 105 urine samples were collected from females with UTIs, in north of Iran, Rasht. The samples were cultured on EMB agar and MacConkey agar. The plates were incubated at 37°C for 24 h and the pure isolates were identified using Gram-stains and standard biochemical tests. The presence of six VF genes including papC, sfa/foc, fimH, afa, ibeA and neuC were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in UPEC strains and verified by direct sequencing. Antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) was performed by disk diffusion method based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines.
Results: 65.71% isolates were identified as E. coli. The most frequent virulence gene was fimH (100%) and the least one was afa (1.44%). The highest and the lowest antibiotic resistance rates were observed against Cephazolin (66.66%), and Gentamicin (24.63%), respectively. Indeed, the prevalence of multiple drug resistance (MDR) was determined as 73.91%.
Conclusion: Our study highlighted the importance of local monitoring in UPEC isolates due to the high genetic mutation capacity of the pathogen, environmental and patient properties to recommend the best strategies against UTIs.
