Aerobactin production of serotyped Escherichia coli from urinary tract infections

Aerobactin production was examined by a bioassay in 467 Escherichia coli urinary strains from girls. All strains were of known OKH serotype. 139, 119 and 112 strains were isolates from pyelonephritis (Py), cystitis (Cy) and asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU), respectively, and 97 were from fecal samples of healthy girls (FN). The incidence of aerobactin production was significantly higher among Py strains than among ABU and FN strains (P<0.001) and also significantly higher than among Cy strains (P<0.01). Aerobactin production was associated with serotype, e.g. the majority of 06K2H1 strains and of 016K1H6 were positive while e.g. the 06K13H1 strains were negative. There was no consistent pattern of coappearance of aerobactin and hemolysin.