[Host-microorganism interactions in urinary infections in children]

The authors examine the factors which induce urinary tract infections (U.T.I.) in child, considering especially the mechanisms which operate in the microorganism-host relation. Besides, the last acquisitions about clinical pediatric urology are specified. The Author dwells upon the discovery and study of P-fimbriated Escherichia coli, which seems ascertained to be responsible of upper urinary tract infections and which can be identified in Laboratories thanks to the existence of kits prepared for this purpose. With reference to this subject, the Authors report a personal experience about 12 pediatric patients in whose urine P-fimbriated E.coli strains were identified; in these patients the correlation is studied between the presence of P-fimbriated E.coli and the severity of infection (pyelonephritis, recurrent U.T.I.).