FIG 2.

Murine colonization and inflammatory response of selected clinical UPEC strains. CBA/J mice were transurethrally inoculated with 10⁸ CFU of the indicated strain (HM43, HM56, or HM86). (A) Bacterial burden was enumerated from urine, bladder, and kidneys 48 h postinfection. Symbols represent individual animals, and bars represent the medians. The dotted line indicates limit of detection. A two-tailed Mann-Whitney test was performed to test significance. **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.005; ****, P < 0.0001. (B) Inflammation was assessed using histopathological analysis of stained thin sections of each specified organ. Inflammation was scored on a scale of 0 to 3, with 0 being no inflammation and 3 being severe inflammation. Mice were mock infected with PBS to serve as a negative control. Symbols represent individual animals, and bars represent the medians.