An Investigation on the Prevalence of Escherichia Albertii in Urine and Stool Samples of Patients in Kermanshah, Iran

Escherichia albertii is a gram-negative and facultatively anaerobic bacterium that has been isolated as a causative agent of diarrhea in recent years. Due to the lack of sufficient information on the phenotypic and biochemical characteristics of this bacterium, it is difficult to distinguish it from other species of the Enterobacteriaceae, especially Escherichia coli pathotypes. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of E. albertii in the urine and stool samples of patients with urinary tract and gastrointestinal tract infection in Kermanshah hospitals using culture and molecular methods.

Four hundred samples consisted of 200 urine and 200 stool samples confirmed as Enterobacteriaceae phenotypically were collected. After subculture and biochemical tests, finally white colonies on XRM-McConkey agar (suspected to be E. albertii) were selected and subjected to PCR using specific primer for cdt gene (Eacdt). SPSS version 16 software was used for the statistical analysis of the data, and the p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Only 5 samples (1.25%) were positive in the final culture on XRM-MacConkey agar. None of them were then confirmed as E. albertii by the PCR.

According to the phenotypic isolation of this bacterium in present study and previous studies on the prevalence of it, it seems that the use of Eacdt specific primer is not efficient for the detection of this bacterium. However, further studies are recommended to confirm it.