Prevalence of virulence factors in uropathogenic E. coli biofilm-producing and non-producing strains isolated from diabetic patients in Shahrekord

Abstract

Background and Objective: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common hospital infections acquired by colonization of uropathogenic E. coli in host musocal epithellium and damages to host tissue. The ability to constitute biofilm plays an important role in virulence of the bacteria. Materials and methods: In this research 51 E. coli strains isolated from diabetic patients having UTI symptoms collected and approved using biochemical tests and molecular technique. In vitro biofilm formation by these isolates was determined using the 96-well microtiterplate test. And the presence of fimH, pap, sfa and afa virulence genes was examined. Results: Among 51 Ecoli isolates, 46 (90.16%) were able to make biofilm. The frequency of fimH, pap, sfa and afa genes in isolations having the ability to create strong biofilm reported respectively 90%, 80%, 80% and 10% reported, The frequency of fimH, pap, sfa and afa genes in isolations having the ability to create weak biofilm reported respectively 83.33%, 75%, 15% and 41.66% reported. Discussion: The results of this study showed that the prevalence of fimH and pap genes among UPEC strain is high. Conclusion: The findings indicated the importance of virulence genes in Escherishia coli isolates producing biofilm

Keywords

• uropathogenic ecoli
• biofilm
• virulence genes
• diabetic patients
• urinary tract infection