Association Between Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence Genes and Severity of Infection and Resistance to Antibiotics

Sofía Alejandra Fonseca-Martínez; Ruth Aralí Martínez-Vega; Ana Elvira Farfán-García; Clara Isabel González Rugeles; Libeth Yajaira Criado-Guerrero

doi:10.2147/IDR.S391378

Association Between Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Virulence Genes and Severity of Infection and Resistance to Antibiotics

Infect Drug Resist. 2023 Jun 12:16:3707-3718. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S391378. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Sofía Alejandra Fonseca-Martínez¹, Ruth Aralí Martínez-Vega², Ana Elvira Farfán-García³, Clara Isabel González Rugeles⁴, Libeth Yajaira Criado-Guerrero²

Affiliations

¹ Maestría en Microbiología, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia.
² Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Santander, Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia.
³ Programa de Bacteriología y Laboratorio Clínico, Universidad de Santander, Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia.
⁴ Escuela de Microbiología, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia.

Abstract

Purpose: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most frequent bacterial infection. Some uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) genes have been associated with disease severity and antibiotic resistance. The aim was to determine the association of nine UPEC virulence genes with UTI severity and antibiotic resistance of strains collected from adults with community-acquired UTI.

Patients and methods: A case-control study (1:3) (38 urosepsis/pyelonephritis and 114 cystitis/urethritis) was conducted. The fimH, sfa/foc, cvaC, hlyA, iroN, fyuA, ireA, iutA, and aer (the last five are siderophore genes) virulence genes were determined by PCR. The information of antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the strains was collected from medical records. This pattern was determined using an automated system for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) was defined as resistance to three or more antibiotic families.

Results: fimH was the most frequently detected virulence gene (94.7%), and sfa/foc was the least frequently detected (9.2%); 55.3% (83/150) of the strains were MDR. The evaluated genes were not associated with UTI severity. Associations were found between the presence of hlyA and carbapenem resistance (Odds ratio [OR] = 7.58, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.50-35.42), iutA and fluoroquinolone resistance (OR = 2.35, 95% CI, 1.15-4.84, and aer (OR = 2.8, 95% CI, 1.20-6.48) and iutA (OR = 2.95, 95% CI, 1.33-6.69) with penicillin resistance. In addition, iutA was the only gene associated with MDR (OR = 2.09, 95% CI,1.03-4.26).

Conclusion: There was no association among virulence genes and UTI severity. Three of the five iron uptake genes were associated with resistance to at least one antibiotic family. Regarding the other four non-siderophore genes, only hlyA was associated with antibiotic resistance to carbapenems. It is essential to continue studying bacterial genetic characteristics that cause the generation of pathogenic and multidrug-resistant phenotypes of UPEC strains.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance; urinary tract infection; uropathogenic E. coli; virulence factor.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Universidad de Santander [grant numbers 00414, 033-15], Universidad Industrial de Santander [grant number 033-15], Gobernación de Santander and MinCiencias [Convocatoria 771 para la Formación de Capital Humano de Alto Nivel para el Departamento de Santander].