Escherichia coli clones ST131, ST69, ST95 and ST73 are
frequent causes of urinary tract infections (UTI) and bloodstream infections.
Specific clones and virulence profiles of E. coli causing UTI
in men has been rarely described. The aim of this study was to characterize
patient and clonal characteristics of community-acquired UTI caused by
E. coli in men (n=12) and women (n=127) in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, complementing a previous work. We characterized isolates
in phylogenetic groups, ERIC2-PCR and PFGE types, MLST, genome similarity and
virulence gene-profiles. UTI from men were more frequently caused by
phylogenetic group B2 isolates (83% vs 42%, respectively, p
0.01), a group with significantly higher virulence scores compared with women.
ST73 was the predominant clone in men (50%) and the second most frequent
in women (12%), with the highest virulence score (mean and
median=9) among other clones. ST73 gnomes formed at least six clusters.
E. coli from men carried significantly higher numbers of
virulence genes, such as sfa/focDE (67% vs
27%), hlyA (58% vs 24%),
cnf 1 (58% vs 16%), fyuA
(100% vs 82%) and MalX
(92% vs 44%), compared with isolates from women. These data
suggest the predominance and spread of ST73 isolates likely relates to an
abundance of virulence determinants.