Detection of intracellular bacterial communities in a child with Escherichia coli recurrent urinary tract infections

• Published in: Pathogens and disease Vol. 68; no. 3; pp. 78 - 81
• Main Authors: Robino, Luciana, Scavone, Paola, Araujo, Lucia, Algorta, Gabriela, Zunino, Pablo, Vignoli, Rafael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-08-2013; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Animal models; Animals; Bacteria; Bladder; Child; children; Communities; Confocal microscopy; Cytoplasm; Cytoplasm - microbiology; Disease Models, Animal; E coli; Epithelial Cells - microbiology; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - classification; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - isolation & purification; Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology; Female; Genes; Genotype; Humans; Intracellular; intracellular bacterial communities; Mice; Microscopy; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Phylogeny; Pili; Recurrence; Scanning microscopy; UPEC; Urinary tract; Urinary tract diseases; Urinary tract infections; Urinary Tract Infections - microbiology; Urine; Urine - cytology; Urine - microbiology; Urogenital system; UTI; Virulence; Virulence factors; Virulence Factors - genetics; UTI; children; intracellular bacterial communities; UPEC; Escherichia coli
• ISSN: 2049-632X; 2049-632X
• DOI: 10.1111/2049-632X.12047

Abstract
The formation of intracellular bacterial communities (IBC) has been proposed as a new pathogenic model for urinary tract infections. Scarce reports describe this phenomenon in humans. We describe the presence of IBC in uroepithelial cells of a child with recurrent urinary infections. Urine specimen was collected from a child with
Escherichia coli
UTI and analyzed by light and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The capability of this strain to produce intracellular infection in bladder tissue was confirmed in mice models.
Escherichia coli
phylogenetic group, presence of virulence factors genes, and its multiple locus sequence type were determined. CLSM showed large collections of morphologically coccoid and rod bacteria in eukaryotic cells cytoplasm, even seemingly protruding from the cells.
Escherichia coli
EC7U, ST3626, harbored type 1, P, and S/F1C fimbriae and K1 capsule genes. In this report, we confirm the presence of IBC in children with UTI, as it has been described before in women.
This work verifies that
E. coli
can be intracellular in cases of severe recurrent urinary tract infections.