Genetic analysis of virulence and pathogenicity features of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from patients with neurogenic bladder.

Abstract

The severity of urinary tract infections (UTI) produced by Escherichia (E.) coli is due to the expression of a wide spectrum of virulence factors conferring their uropathogenicity and amplified by specific clinical conditions, such that of the patients with motor deficit. In these patients the symptomatology specific to neurogenic bladder could lead to the installation of major complications of UTI such as renal failure. The purpose of this work was to investigate the virulence factors of 66 E. coli strains isolated from patients with neurological disorders and neurogenic bladder. PCR multiplex was used for the phylogenetic analysis and for the assessment of virulence factors in the respective strains. Our study demonstrated that the uropathogenic E. coli strains isolated from patients with neurogenic bladder are harbouring different virulence genes implicated in the intiation and the development of the infectious process, represented by adhesins (fimH), haemolysins (hly, cnf) and iron chelating agents (aer). The studied strains were equally distributed between the extraintestinal phylogenetic groups (B2 and D), known for their higher virulence potential and the intestinal ones (A and B1). The most virulent strains belonged to the extraintestinal phylogenetic group B2, harboring all tested virulence genes.