Prevalence of virulence genes in Escherichia coli isolates implicated in poultry colibacillosis and human urinary tract infection

Escherichia coli is one of the most important bacterial pathogens of human and poultry. Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) and uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) isolates cause diseases outside intestine environment. These strains share some common traits. It has been suggested that transfer of these commonalities between different hosts is of importance in the epidemiology of disease in poultry and human. In the present study, presence of 4 virulence associated genes (sitA, iutA, traT, and tsh) were investigated among 26 APEC and 25 UPEC isolates by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Statistical analysis was also carried out using minitab 15. The frequencies of the presence of these selected genes in APEC and UPEC isolates were 96.2% and 64% for traT, 88.5% and 76% for sitA, 84.6% and 68% for iutA, and 61.5% and 16% for tsh, respectively. traT and sitA were the most prevalent genes among APEC and UPEC isolates, respectively. Diverse combinations of virulence associated genes were also detected among these strains. Combinations of virulence genes of iutA-sitA-tsh-traT and iutA-sitA-traT were the most frequent in APEC and UPEC isolates, respectively. It supports possibility of virulence genes transfer between poultry and human. Further studies are needed to ascertain the importance of such possibilities in the epidemiology of the infection in human and poultry.