A 24-year-old woman in her third trimester of pregnancy presents with urinary frequency and burning for the past few days. She denies fever, or chills. She has mild suprapubic tenderness, and a urine dipstick is positive for WBC, protein, and a small amount of blood. Culture produces greater than 100,000 colonies of gram-negative bacilli. Which attribute of this uropathogenic organism is most strongly associated with its virulence?
P pili are found in uropathogenic strains of E. coli. By using P pili, E. coli is able to attach to epithelial cells lining the urinary tract. Pili or fimbriae are hair like structures, which are formed by only gram-negative bacteria. They are organs of adhesion and allow the bacteria to adhere to mucosal surface. These are composed of protein subunits called as pilin.
Colonisation factor antigen
Heat labile toxins
Heat stable toxins
P pili