The virulence factors and antibiotic sensitivities of Escherichia coli isolated from recurrent urinary tract infections

We determined the antibiotic sensitivities of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains isolated from the urine of patients who have recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs). Our study was carried out between November 2000 and January 2002 at the Infectious Diseases Clinic, Istanbul Haydarpasa Numune Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. We compared the virulence factors (fimbrial adhesion, hemolysin production, motility property) of 50 strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolated from urine with the same properties of 25 strains of E. coli isolated from stool specimens of healthy individuals. In addition, we detected the virulence factors of UPEC strains using a microbiological and biochemical methods and by using disk diffusion method, we were able to investigate the sensitivity of the strains to the antimicrobials. We found the level of mannose-resistant (MR) fimbriae bearing in the UPEC strains to be significantly higher than that in the controls (odds ratio=10.27, p