BACTERIAL VIRULENCE CHARACTERISTICS OF ESCHERICHIA-COLI ISOLATES FROMFIRST-TIME URINARY-TRACT INFECTION

The frequency of nine potential Escherichia coli urinary tract infecti on (UTI) virulence factors was investigated among 216 isolates from 20 8 women 18-40 years old with first-time UTI. Factors were afimbrial ad hesins I-IV and F1845 pill (drb), aerobactin (aer), group II capsules (kpsMT), cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 (cnf1), alpha-hemolysin (hly), outer membrane protease T (ompT), Pap and Prs pili (prf), S fimbriae (sfa), and type 1 pili (fim). Women were enrolled at two sites. Pairwi se comparisons found 14 statistically significant associations between virulence genes after correcting for multiple comparisons. This is th e first report of five associations: aer and drb, kpsMT and ompT, ompT and cnf1, ompT and sfa, and prf and ompT. As ompT is not closely link ed genetically to kpsMT, cnf1, prf; or sfa, ompT may be functionally l inked with one or more of these other virulence factors.