Phylotyping based virulence associated genes and drug susceptibility of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli in urinary tract infection patients.

Different E.coli phylogenetic groups (A, B1, B2 and D) through possess four functional groups; (I) adhesins , (II) microcins , (III) toxins , and (IV) capsule can be caused urinary tract infections. Special phylogenetic group with high virulence content become a worldwide health concern. Resistance to antimicrobial agents increasingly complicates the management of extraintestinal infections due to E.coli , which are a major source of illness, death, and increased healthcare costs. The aim of this study was to determination of virulence content and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of different Uropathogenic E.coli (UPEC) phylogenetic groups in Ahvaz, Iran. Phylogenetic groups, virulence associated genes (VAGs), and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were detected by using phenotypic methods and followed by PCR analysis in a total of 232 clinically well-characterized E. coli that were isolated from two collections; patients with Hospital-acquired and Community-acquired urinary tract infections. Our results revealed that among 232 UPEC strains, most frequent phylogenetic group was belong to phylogroup D (58%) with greatest content in virulence factors including kpsM (23%) and neuA (76.3%) (Functional group IV), cnf (29.6%) (Functional group III), and Pap (54.8%) genes (Functional group I). Phulogroup D and lesser extent B2 were the most drug-resistant phylogroups. Also, Phylogroup D was responsible for majority of hospital (64.7%) and community (48.4%) acquired infections. These findings suggested that frequency of determined UPEC phylogenetic groups possess different virulence content, moreover, these results presented a direct connection between gene diversity, source of infection, and drug-resistant.