Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Microbiology 2008-3289 7 4 2015 11 06 198 202 EN Mohammad Mohammadzadeh Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Hossein Goudarzi Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Hossein Dabiri Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Fatemeh fallah Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2015 10 16 2015 10 29 Background and Objectives: Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) is one the cause of acute diarrhea and bacillary dysentery in developing countries. Routine diagnostic microbiology tests are not capable to distinguish EIEC from other pathogenic or non-pathogenic E. coli. PCR, targeting ipaH, virF, virB and other virulence genes, is a diagnostic method for detecting E. coli pathotypes. Using PCR, we identified EIEC by PCR targeting ipaH and virF genes among E.coli isolates from patients with diarrhea at the selected hospitals in Tehran. Materials and Methods: Isolates of E. coli were cultured from 140 specimens of   patients with diarrhea using culture and IMViC test. DNA was extracted using commercial kits and and tested  for uidA, ipaH and virF genes by PCR. Results: Totally, 140 E. coli isolates were confirmed by IMViC tests and PCR targeting uidA gene. Of 140 E. coli isolates, 5 (3.6%) were positive for the ipaH gene, 4 (2.9%) contained virF gene and 4 (2.9%) were positive for both ipaH and virF genes. Conclusion: These results indicated that EIEC is a considerable acute diarrheagenic pathogen in adults and infants. More- over, virF gene is suggested  for evaluation of invasiveness of EIEC. https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/view/357 https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/download/357/495