Characteristics of causing urinary tract infections: Emergence of new sequence types ST74 and ST38 in Iran.

Objectives: Difficult-to-treat infections are increasingly described in patients with urinary tract infections (UTIs). This occurrence could be due to the production of virulence determinants. This study aimed to characterize the molecular features of responsible for UTIs.

Materials And Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 70 isolated from UTIs were examined. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the disk diffusion method. All isolates were confirmed by and PCR assays. Virulence, alpha protein-like, and pilus island genes were detected by PCR. Isolates were characterized using the multilocus sequence typing method.

Results: Multidrug resistance was observed in 80% of isolates. Five virulence profiles were detected, wherein , , , (35.7%), , , (27.1%), and , , , , (21.4%) were the most frequent detected profiles. was isolated and categorized within three clonal complexes (CCs) including CC22 (40%), CC17 (25.7%), and CC23 (20%). The main sequence types (STs) found were ST22 (27.1%), ST23 (17.1%), ST17 (12.9%), ST31 (8.7%), ST40 (8.7%), ST74 (7.1%), ST48 (4.3%), ST890 (4.3%), ST189 (2.8%), ST38 (2.8%), ST52 (2.8%), and ST155 (1.4%). ST74 and ST38 were reported for the first time in Tehran-Iran.

Conclusion: This study highlights the predominance of the CC22 lineage among strains isolated from UTIs in Tehran, Iran, and highlights the significant penetration of this lineage into hospitals. MDR patterns among these strains appear to be becoming a major concern in the management of infections.