The Prevalence of FimH and TosA Genes in Escherichia coli Isolated from Urinary Tract Infections

Abstract

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the main health problems caused by various microorganisms including uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC).  UPEC strains are the most frequent pathogens responsible for 85% and 50% of community and hospital acquired UTIs, respectively. UPEC strains have specific virulence factors that can result in worsening of UTIs, including adhesion trait.  In this study, Fifty-four UPEC isolates were collected from patients with various clinical manifestations of UTIs attending different hospitals in Baghdad/Iraq from November 2020 to March 2021. These isolates were identified by culturing on differential media MacConkey agar and selective media Hardy chromo UTI agar in addition to the blood agar, then confirmed the identification using Vitek 2 automated system. The prevalence of fimbrial adhesion related gene (fimH) and non fimbrial adhesion related gene (tosA) gene were screened among 45 UPEC isolats using polymerase chain reaction assay with specific primers. The result reported the presence of studied genes was in high percentage (95.6%) for fimH coded gene while was in moderate percentage (47%) for tosA coded gene. thus, fimH and tosA could be used as a possible diagnostic marker in addition to indicate the level of UPEC pathogenicity.