S. saprophyticus CCM883 and 9325 were found to adhere to the tubular cell line LLC-PK1. An ELISA technique was used to determine adherence of bacteria and inhibition of adherence by various carbohydrates. Only N-acetyl-galactosamine was found to significantly inhibit adhesion (p less than 0.001), which suggests that the surface component mediating adhesion recognizes structures on the target cell that contain this carbohydrate.