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?
Colonisation factor antigen
Heat labile toxins
Heat stable toxins
P pili
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.