Frequency of pap and pil operons in Escherichia coli strains associated with urinary infections.

Strains of E. coli isolated from patients with urinary tract infection were examined for P and type 1 adhesin production by colony hybridization with pap and pil operons. The P pili probe detected 45 (46.4%) of the total of 97 strains studied and the type 1 pili probe detected 83 (85.6%). The pap operon was detected in 39 (53.4%) of 73 strains isolated from urine of patients with urinary disease and in 6 (25.0%) of 24 strains isolated from feces of healthy individuals employed as controls (P = 0.029), and the pil operon was detected in 67 (91.8%) of the urinary strains and in 16 (66.6%) of the fecal strains (P = 0.007). Our data did not show significant differences in frequency of P pili among isolates from pyelonephritis (78.5%), cystitis (45.8%) and asymptomatic bacteriuria (54.5%). Type 1 pili were not associated with the different types of infection; the frequency of these pili was 100% in pyelonephritis and in asymptomatic bacteriuria, and 87.5% in cystitis. The incidence of pap operon in strains isolated from pyelonephritis and from asymptomatic bacteriuria was higher in 11- to 40-year old women. These data show a high frequency of pap and pil operons among uropathogenic strains of E. coli, which seems to be an important factor in the development of urinary infection.