Study of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes in isolated from urinary tract infection patients in Tanta University Hospitals.

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes and , as well as the virulence genes , and , in uropathogenic () isolates from the Egyptian population. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 50 isolates were collected from urine samples from patients with urinary tract infections (UTIs) admitted to Tanta University Hospital from December 2020 to November 2021. The isolates were cultured, identified, and tested for antibiotic susceptibility by the disc diffusion method. The (, and ), , and genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction in isolates. The , and genes were found to be positive in 18%, 12%, 10%, and 2% of the isolates, respectively. In addition, and were found to be positive in 44% and 8% of the isolates, while and were not detected. Furthermore, positive , and genes were significantly associated with both upper and lower UTIs, increased frequency, urgency, and dysuria, and complicated UTIs, as well as pyuria over 100 white blood cells per high-power field. In conclusion, the prevalence of virulence and antibiotic resistance genes varies by population. At our hospital, the gene is the most prevalent virulence gene and was strongly associated with complicated UTIs, while the and genes were the most prevalent and related to antibiotic resistance. Our findings, however, should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size.