Distribution of Pathogenicity Islands Among Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Isolates From Patients With Urinary Tract Infections

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is one of the most common etiologic agent of urinary tract infection (UTI). The ability of Escherichia coli to cause UTI is associated with specific virulence determinants, which are encoded by pathogenicity islands (PAIs).

This study aimed to investigate the distribution of PAIs among the UPEC isolates collected from patients with UTIs.

In this study, a total of 100 E. coli isolates were collected from patients with UTIs using standard microbiological methods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for the identification of the main PAIs of UPEC according to insertion sites and virulence markers.

In total, PAI IV536, PAI III536, PAI I536, PAI, IICFT073, PAI ICFT073, PAI IIJ96, PAI II536, and PAI IJ96 were detected in 23, 22, 17, 17, 13, 11, 11, and 8% of isolates. PAI combinations were identified in 15% of isolates.

The results showed that PAIs of UPEC are not strain-specific and some strains can carry the PAIs associated with the prototype strains of UPEC simultaneously