Virulence Genes in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from the Urine of HIV Patients and Pregnant Women in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Virulence genes are known to occur in microorganisms which accelerates their pathogenicity and can also determine the extent at which infection occurs. The study therefore was aimed at determining the virulence genes in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in urine samples of HIV patients and pregnant women attending University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. One hundred and thirty (130) urine samples were collected from HIV patients and pregnant women. The midstream urine from each participant were analysed for presence/prevalence and isolation of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using cystine lactose electrolyte deficient agar (CLED) media. PCR assays were used for screening seven (7) virulence encoding genes which included, mrkD, rmpA, entB for Klebsiella pneumoniae and lasB, algD, exoS and plcH for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The results highlighted that entB (n=7, 36.8%) and plcH (n=3, 27.3%) were the most frequent virulence gene for Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa respectively. Furthermore, the virulence genes detection was higher for Klebsiella pneumoniae in HIV patients when compared with pregnant women. It also revealed the presence of virulence genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa from pregnant women and its absence in HIV patients,