Existence of virulence genes in clinical isolates from Jiangsu Province of China: a multicenter study.

Background: The ability of to invade, colonizes, and eventually kill host cells is influenced by many virulence factors. The aims of this study were to assess the presence of 11 virulence genes of strains isolated in this country.

Methods: A total of 166 was collected from 13 cities of Jiangsu province through the provincial Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from 2010 to 2015 and then the distribution of virulence genes was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology.

Results: Invasive virulence genes included and , in which the positive rate of was 100% while the positive rate of was 15.1% in . The classic pathway of regulating expression of virulence gene involved and gene, which positive rates were 33.7% and 24.1% respectively. The most common serine protease autotransporters of Enterobacteriaceae among were (100%), followed by A (3.0%), (3.0%), (1.2%). Shigella enterotoxin genes include sen, 1A, 1B were found in 16.3%, 6.0% and 1.8% of the isolates, respectively.

Conclusions: This study provides baseline information on the distribution of virulence genes in clinical trains in Jiangsu province in China, which will be important for implementation of effective control strategies.