Sexual acquisition of urinary tract infection in a man

A man was admitted with acute pyelonephritis due to Escherichia coli. Three days prior to the onset of his symptoms his wife presented with a 7-day history of cystitis due to E. coli. Before the wife developed her symptoms the couple were having vaginal intercourse every night, and this continued for the first 3 days of her symptoms. The organisms isolated from the urine of both patients were found to have the same biotype, an identical antibiogram, and the same serotype. The temporal sequence of events and the bacteriological findings strongly suggest the sexual transmission of this organism from the wife to her husband.