Virulence factors and antibiotic resistance in uropathogenic and commensal Escherichia coli isolates

Background: urinary tract infections (utis),including cystitis and pyelonephritis,are the most common infectious diseases in childhood. aim and objectives: escherichia coli (e. coli) account for as much as 90% of the community-acquired and also 50% of nosocomial utis. therefore,the identification of e. coli strains and antibiotic resistance patterns is important for both clinical and epidemiological implications. material and methods: to characterize uropathogenic strains e. coli,we studied 100 strains recovered from both urine samples of children aged less than 7 years with community-acquired utis and stool samples of healthy children,respectively. results: we assessed virulence factors (vfs) and drug sensitivities of e. coli isolates. drug sensitivities of the isolates were 94% (amikacin),90% (nitrofurantoin),66% (gentamicin),56% (cefixime),40% (nalidixic acid) and 28% (cotrimoxazol). laboratory tests showed that the prevalence of virulence factors ranged from 18% for hemolysin and p-fimbriae to 2% for type1-fimbriae. most drug resistance was cotrimoxazole and amikacin was the lowest. p-fimbriae and hemolysin in uropathogenic e. coli were more frequent than non-pathogen type of e. coli. conclusion: although amikacin appeared to be the first choice for uti in children,but nitrofurantoin seems to be practical and could be considered as the selective choice for uncomplicated lower utis. © journal of krishna institute of medical sciences university.