Abstract
The sensitivity to normal human serum of 144 smooth strains of Escherichia coli isolated from cases of urinary tract infection was determined. It was found that serum-sensitive and serum-resistant strains were not randomly distributed throughout the 10 O serogroups commonly associated with urinary infection. A similar distribution was observed when a group of strains isolated from rectal swabs was studied. The results indicate that serum resistance may be related to qualitative characteristics of the O antigen.