Urinary tract infections are one of the most frequent bacterial diseases worldwide. UPECs are the most prominent group of bacterial strains among pathogens responsible for prompting such infections. As a group, these extra-intestinal infection-causing bacteria have developed specific features that allow them to sustain and develop in their inhabited niche of the urinary tract. In this study, we examined 118 UPEC isolates to determine their genetic background and antibiotic resistance. Moreover, we investigated correlations of these characteristics with the ability to form biofilm and to induce a general stress response. We showed that this strain collection expressed unique UPEC attributes, with the highest representation of FimH, SitA, Aer, and Sfa factors (100%, 92.5%, 75%, and 70%, respectively). According to CRA (Congo red agar) analysis, the strains particularly predisposed to biofilm formation represented 32.5% of the isolates. Those biofilm forming strains presented a significant ability to accumulate multi-resistance traits. Most notably, these strains presented a puzzling metabolic phenotype—they showed elevated basal levels of (p)ppGpp in the planktonic phase and simultaneously exhibited a shorter generation time when compared to non-biofilm-forming strains. Moreover, our virulence analysis showed these phenotypes to be crucial for the development of severe infections in the Galleria mellonella model.
Bacteriophage-based applications have a renaissance today, increasingly marking their use in industry, medicine, food processing, biotechnology, and more. However, phages are considered resistant to various harsh environmental conditions; besides, they are characterized by high intra-group variability. Phage-related contaminations may therefore pose new challenges in the future due to the wider use of phages in industry and health care. Therefore, in this review, we summarize the current knowledge of bacteriophage disinfection methods, as well as highlight new technologies and approaches. We discuss the need for systematic solutions to improve bacteriophage control, taking into account their structural and environmental diversity.
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