Properties of Escherichia coli in Patients with Renal Scarring

The virulence of uropathogenic Escherichia coli has been defined by the severity of acute urinary tract infection (UTI), rather than by the degree of renal scarring caused by the organism. In acute pyelonephritis, there is an accumulation of clones with a restricted number of O:K:H serotypes or electrophoretic types, which express properties that facilitate the induction of acute infection. These include adherence, hemolysin and aerobactin production, and resistance to the bactericidal effect of serum. Scarring may be caused by the most severe acute infection. If so, these clones might be expected to occur most frequently in patients with renal scarring. Thus, this study compared the distribution of identification markers and virulence factors found in isolates from patients with and without renal scarring.