• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.31-40
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• 1996

Escherichia coli is one of the most common etiological agents in urinary tract infection. An important virulence factor is the adhesive capacity of E. coli to uroepithelial cell, mediated by bacterial fimbriae. The Adhesion property has been regarded as an important virulence determinant in urinary tract infections. A total of 60 patients, who were diagnosed microbiologically as urinary tract infections, were examined by immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). Uropathogenic E. coli with recombinant plasmid were positive for mannose resistant hemagglutination (MRHA). For identification of p-fimbriae subtype in uropathogenic E. coli, In the immunoblot analysis, specific bands in the range of p-fimbriae molecular weight of 17KD-22KD were identified. For the distribution of p-fimbriae subtype in the patient sera, 34/60(56.7%) were positive for $F7_1$, 28/60(46.7%) were positive for $F7_2$, and 30/60(50%) were positive for F13 with immunoblotting method. similar trends were observed in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Relatively good specificity(92.6%) and sensitivity(90%) were found in the ELISA test system using mixed antigens of purified $F7_1$, $F7_2$, and F13 p-fimbriae, and 60 sera from patients with urinary tract infections. In conclusion The serological tests were convenient method in diagnosis of urinary tract infections. among those ELISA could be recommended in diagnosis of urinary tract infections.