Urovirulence determinants in Escherichia coli strains causing prostatitis.

To define the urovirulence properties of Escherichia coli strains producing prostatitis, E. coli strains isolated from men with acute (7 strains) or chronic (23) prostatitis were compared with E. coli isolates from women with pyelonephritis (30), acute cystitis (60), or complicated urinary tract infection (UTI; 30). Strains from prostatitis patients were significantly more likely to express hemolysin than were strains causing complicated UTI (73% vs. 43%; P = .02) and more often demonstrated hybridization with the cytotoxic necrotizing factor-1 (CNF-1) probe (63%) than did strains from women (44%-48%). P fimbrial expression was highest among pyelonephritis (73%) and prostatitis strains (53%) and lowest among E. coli from women with complicated UTI (23%) and cystitis (30%; P < .05, prostatitis strains vs. either of the latter 2 groups). Results suggest that E. coli strains producing prostatitis generally possess urovirulence profiles similar to those of strains from women with acute uncomplicated pyelonephritis and that hemolysin and CNF-1 are especially prevalent in prostatitis strains.