Relationship between susceptibility to antimicrobials and virulence factors in paediatric Escherichia coli isolates

Abstract The in vitro susceptibilities to several antibiotics of 136 Escherichia coli strains containing virulence factors isolated from children with urinary tract infection were analysed. Escherichia coli strains were analysed by multiplex polymerase chain reaction for genes encoding the following virulence factors: pyelonephritis-associated pili ( pap ); S fimbriae ( sfa ); afimbrial adhesin I ( afaI ); haemolysin ( hly ); cytotoxic necrotizing factor I ( cnfI ); and aerobactin ( aer ). It was observed that the virulence genes increased antibiotic resistance of resistant strains and increased the sensitivity of susceptible strains.