Molecular detection of pap GII, sfa and afa in Escherichia coli isolated from poultry colibacillosis and human urinary tract infection

The exploitation of virulence traits of Extra Pathogenic Escherichia coli (EXPEC) could be considered an applicable tool to describe the pathogenesis and design the new treatment and control methods.  This study aimed to investigate the frequency of pap G II, Sfa, and afa in Escherichia coli isolated from poultry colibacillosis as well as UTIs. Totally 320 Escherichia coli including 247 isolated from poultry colibacillosis from Semnan, Tehran and Gilan province, 53 isolated from the cloaca of apparently healthy birds from Semnan, and 20 from human UTI were evaluated for the presence of pap G II, Sfa, and afa by the colony hybridization assay. Statistical analysis was performed using the  test and the P-value was considered <0.05. The results of this study showed among three adhesion genes, pap GII was the most common adhesins in both human and poultry source strains. Frequency of pap GII was 21.05%, 13.2%, and 35% in Escherichia coli isolated from poultry colibacillosis, UTI, and apparently healthy birds respectively. It was found that Escherichia coli isolated from human UTIs contained a higher frequency of the Sfa than poultry colibacillosis and afa was not detected in any of the groups.   Escherichia coli isolated from poultry colibacillosis and human UTI showed high pap GII prevalence, which supports its role in the pathogenesis of EXPEC. Therefore, it can be an attractive target to develop novel anti-virulence therapeutics method and vaccine strategies.