Detection of virulence factors of Uropathoigenic Escherichia coli isolates from infertile women high vaginal swabs

The uropathogenic Escherichia coli as a most common cause of urinary tract infections can transmit to the reproductive system. Their various virulence factors cause adhesion, invasion and damage to reproductive epithelium. This study was carried out in order to detection of virulence factors of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates from infertile women high vaginal swabs. Totally, 70 and 30 high vaginal swabs were taken from infertile and fertile women, respectively. All swabs were cultured and the positive samples were studied for the presence of uropathogenic virulence genes using PCR method. Thirteen out of seventy swabs samples were positive for E. coli (18.57%). There were no E. coli bacteria in fertile women. Eight of the positive samples were from infertile women with the history of urinary tract infections (61.53%). The most commonly detected virulence genes were papGI (84.61%), set-1 (76.92%), papGII (61.53%), papGIII (53.84%) and sen (53.84%). The high vaginal Escherichia coli harbored certain virulence genes of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains. The urinary tract infections should be treated well to diminish its upstream transfer into vagina. Some more investigation should be perform for identifying the epidemiological aspects of uropathogenic Escherichia coli in high vaginal part of infertile women.