Researchers have discovered that a new strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) is responsible for serious urinary tract infections.
- Researchers from the Toulouse University Hospital have discovered a new strain of E. coli which would be responsible for serious urinary tract infections.
- This is the strain of E. coli HlyF that has antimicrobial resistance genes.
- Antimicrobial resistance could be one of the main causes of death in the future.
90% of cystitis cases are caused by the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli), according to health insurance. Cystitis is a urinary tract infection located in the bladder. But according to a new study published in the review Clinical Microbiology and Infection (CMI), a new strain of this bacterium is thought to cause more serious urinary tract infections.
More serious urinary tract infections with new strain of bacteria
“Although UTIs usually start mildly with cystitis confined to the bladder, they can also involve the kidney (…) or progress to a life-threatening infection known as sepsis (when the infection spreads through the circulation blood) causing a generalized inflammatory response”can we read in the press release of the Toulouse University Hospital. According to the researchers, these severe forms are due to a new strain of E. coli.
During their work, the scientists isolated the strains of E. urine culture coli of 223 patients admitted to the adult emergency department of Toulouse University Hospital. After analyzing them, they discovered the “role of a new virulence factor, HlyF which is carried by a plasmid (a small DNA fragment) capable of being transferred between bacteria and thus of rapidly disseminating within the different phylogroups and pathotypes of E. coli by conjugation.”
By reproducing urinary tract infections in micethe researchers were able to confirm that HlyF increased the ability of E. coli bacteria to induce a “severe infection with blood dissemination and exacerbated inflammatory response”.
A new, more resistant strain of E. coli bacteria
Additionally, the researchers found that the strain of E. coli HlyF had antimicrobial resistance genes. According to the Pasteur Institute“the antibiotic resistance of a bacterium can result either from mutations or from the acquisition of resistance genes conferring resistance to one or more antibiotics”. The discovery of this strain could be worrying since resistance genes can be exchanged between bacteria.
“Given the aging of the population and the increase in comorbidities and complex medical procedures (such as organ transplants or immunosuppressive treatments), the frequency of UTIs, particularly severe and complicated infections, is likely to increase. ‘increase, explains Professor Eric Oswald, biologist at the Toulouse University Hospital, in the press release. Furthermore, antimicrobial resistance is set to become one of the leading causes of death in the decades to come. It is therefore essential to monitor, (…) the presence and evolution of plasmids that promote the dissemination of virulence factors such as HlyF, inducing more severe or even fatal infections and carrying antibiotic resistance genes.”
In France, each year, approximately one woman in ten develops cystitis according to the Toulouse University Hospital and, during her life, one patient in two will present with a urinary tract infection.
