Anais do Congresso Paranaense de Microbiologia
Anais do IV Congresso Paranaense de Microbiologia

Providencia stuartii is the most common species of the Providencia genus capable of causing human infections and pathogenesis. It is an enterobacteria, Gram negative, belonging to the normal intestinal microbiota and is widely distributed in the environment. However, this bacterium has the potential to cause opportunistic infections, involved in community-acquired and hospital-acquired infectious diseases being mainly associated with urinary tract infections (UTI). Its pathogenicity is related to the expression of virulence genes, such as fimbriae, hemolysins and siderophores.Virulence factors refer to the characteristics that guarantee the success of a microorganism to establish itself in a host in which the potential to cause disease is considerable, so there is a identified need to understand the virulence mechanisms to prevent serious infections. Thus, this study aims to verify the presence and prevalence of virulence genes of nosocomial P. stuartii strains. For this, 45 P. stuartii isolates from hospital origin, in Londrina-PR, in the period from 2014 to 2017 were studied. These strains were isolates from different sources such as catheter tip, urine, ocular swab, tissues, tracheal secretion, bronchial aspirate and blood were used in a test to verify the presence of virulence genes. Subsequently, the extraction of bacterial DNA through the boiling method and the DNA amplification was performed using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) being used to evaluate the fimA and mrkA, ireA, pftA, iutA and hlyA genes, the amplification products were submitted to 1.5% agarose gel electrophoresis, being visualized with the use of UV light.The results obtained showed that 100% of the isolates showed positive results for the presence of the fimA, mrkA, fptA, iutA and hlyA genes, while the ireA gene was present in 42 (93.33%) of the isolates. In view of the results obtained, it can be concluded that the isolates of P. stuartii studied, regardless of the source of isolation, have a high prevalence of the genes studied. Therefore, it is concluded that virulence characteristics, such as fimbriae, iron acquisition systems and hemolysins, can help these microorganisms establish a infectious process, favoring their permanence in the host, especially in a hospital environment, evidencing a public health problem.