Comparison of antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants of Escherichia coli isolated from urinary tract infection in females and males from Sanandaj, western Iran

Background and objective: Escherichia coli strains are the most common cause of urinary tract infection (UTI) in human. This study was performed to investigate whether gender could affect antibiotic resistance and virulence determinants of E. coli isolated from UTI.Materials and Methods: This study was performed on ۷۶ E. coli isolates, of which ۴۱ isolated from females and ۳۵ isolated from males with UTI who were admitted to two hospitals in Sanandaj. The isolates were examined by PCR for the presence of virulence genes encoding hemolysin (hly), cytotoxic necrotizing factor ۱ (cnf۱), P fimbriae (pap), and afimbrial adhesin (afa). Sensitivity to antibiotics was determined using the disk diffusion method. A p value <۰.۰۵ was considered significant.Findings: In both groups, the most effective antibiotic was nitrofurantoin (۹۵.۵% sensitivity) and the least effective were ceftriaxone and thrimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (۳۱.۸% and ۲۵.۸% sensitivity, respectively). The strains isolated from males showed higher resistance rates compared to the isolates from females except imipenem, ceftazidime and nitrofurantoin for which females showed a higher resistance; however, the differences were not significant. The prevalence of virulence genes was ۳۶.۴% for pap and cnf (each) ۱۸.۲% for hly, and ۱۲.۱% for afa. The hly and cnf were almost equally distributed between the two groups (P>۰.۰۵). The prevalence of afa in females was higher than males (۱۴.۶% vs. ۸%, respectively; P>۰.۰۵). The prevalence of pap was higher in males than in females (۵۲% vs. ۲۶.۸%, respectively) and a significant difference was found for the prevalence of pap between the two groups (p: ۰.۰۳۹). Conclusion: Our results indicated that uroisolates of E. coli showed comparable resistance and virulence prevalence rates between males and females; however, pap virulence gene was significantly more found in males. Further research is needed to shed light on these findings

کلیدواژه ها:

Infection ، Urinary tract ، Gender ، Drug resistance ، Virulence factors