Renal abscess yields elusive hypermucoviscous phenotype of, uropathogenic Escherichia coli: a case report.

Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) strains are described as extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli with preference for the urinary tract. Bottone et al2 recently described the first documentation of a hypermucoviscous phenotype of a UPEC strain that displays a "stringing" phenomenon analogous to those produced by Klebsiella pneumonia strains known to invade the liver. The occurrence of this hypermucoviscous phenotype of UPEC strains causing urinary tract infection has not been well established. Following, we present a case report of two separate renal isolates from a patient with recurrent renal abscesses yielding the aforementioned hypermucoviscous phenotype of UPEC strains.