[Determination of serum- and phagocyte resistance of E. coli using bioluminescence]

Resistance to serum and phagocytosis belong to the most important virulence markers of the bacteria. These properties enable the microorganism to have some selective advantage by overcoming of host defence, thus increasing the invasiveness of the bacteria. Determination of these properties make it possible to evaluate better the virulence of the facultative-pathogenic microorganisms and can therefore be used for microbiological diagnosis. The method used until now to test these characteristics are very time consuming. For these reason we have employed bioluminescence to determine the number of viable cells. This method is very suitable for this purpose.