Evaluation of the Presence of fimH and bfpA Genes in Escherichia coli Isolated from Pregnant Women

Article Type Original Research Authors Fatemeh Keshavarzi, phD1* Rozhin Rahmani, MSc1 Farouq Karimpour, MSc2 How to cite this article Keshavarzi F., Rahmani R., Karimpour F. Evaluation of the Presence of fimH and bfpA Genes in Escherichia coli Isolated from Pregnant Women. Infection Epidemiology and Microbiology. 2021;7(4): 297-304 1Department of biology, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran 2Department of biology, Kurdistan Science & Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran * Correspondence Address: Department of Biology, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran. F.keshavarzi@iausdj.ac.ir Article History Received: July 05 2021 Accepted: October 25 ,2021 Published: November 05 ,2021 Background: Escherichia coli (E. coli) is one of the most abundant bacteria in human and animal infections. Many virulence genes in E. coli intensify its infectivity. This study explored the presence of two pathogenic genes, including fimH and bfpA, in E. coli strains isolated from pregnant women. Materials & Methods: From autumn 2016 to spring 2017, a total of 100 E. coli isolates were collected from clinical samples (116) of pregnant women. The strains were identified using biochemical tests (catalase, Simmons citrate, indole, mobility, H2S, MR, VP, TSI, and urease). The presence of pathogenic genes in these isolates was examined using colony PCR method. Finally, the relationship between the gene and the site of infection was analyzed in SPSS-23 software. Findings: PCR results indicated that out of 100 E. coli samples, 15 were bfpA positive (15%), and 64 were fimH positive (64%). A significant relationship was found between the presence of bfpA gene and samples taken from blood (p=.049), and stool (p<.001). Conclusion: None of the urinary strains harbored the bfpA gene, while the strains isolated from stool had a significant relationship with the presence of bfpA gene (OR = 18.667), which confirms that this gene is of great importance for EPEC (enteropathogenic E. coli). There was also a significant relationship between blood-isolated strains and the presence of bfpA gene. A significant relationship was also found between the fimH gene and strains isolated from urine samples (OR=36.733), while no relationship was observed between the presence of fimH gene and blood-isolated strains. Copyright© 2021, TMU Press. This open-access article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) under the Attribution-NonCommercial terms. 10.52547/iem.7.4.297