Detection of Escherichia albertii in urinary and gastrointestinal infections in Kermanshah, Iran

Background Escherichia albertii (E. albertii) is a Gram-negative and facultative anaerobe bacterium. In recent years, the bacterium has been isolated from the feces of people with gastroenteritis as a pathogen that causes diarrhea. Due to insufficient information on the phenotypic and biochemical characteristics of E. albertii, it is difficult to distinguish it from other species of the Enterobacteriaceae family. This is especially prevalent in the pathotypes of Escherichia coli (E. coli). Moreover, in clinical laboratories, it is mistakenly identified as E. coli or even Hafnia alvei (H. alvei). This study was performed for the first time in Iran to identify E. albertii by PCR method from a sample of urinary and gastrointestinal infections obtained from clinical laboratories in Kermanshah, which were distinguished as E. coli. Methods In this study, 60 urinary samples and 40 fecal samples that were identified as E. coli by phenotypic and biochemical methods in clinical laboratories. The samples were re-evaluated in the first step in terms of specific phenotypic and biochemical characteristics of E. coli. Subsequently, DNA was extracted from the isolates by the phenol method. Then, two lysP and mdh genes were detected for E. albertii and the uidA gene for E. coli by PCR using specific primers pairs. Results The results obtained from phenotypic and biochemical tests indicated that all samples were consistent with E. coli characteristics. However, findings from PCR showed that out of a total of 100 samples, specific genes of E. coli were identified in 6 samples (6%) and uidA gene in 94 remaining samples (94%). Of these 6 samples, 5 samples were urinary tract infections, and only one was a gastrointestinal infection. Conclusion The findings of this study show that E. albertii can be considered as one of the causes of urinary and gastrointestinal infections that are mistakenly identified in clinical laboratories as E. coli.Therefore, the use of molecular methods for accurate and definitive diagnosis of bacteria can be useful.