Yes! Although foodborne infections are often thought to cause infections limited to the GI tract, an increasing number of studies have linked foodborne E.coli to extraintestinal infections in humans, including UTIs.¹

Supportive data include frequent genetic similarly between antimicrobial-resistant E. coli from humans and poultry-associated E. coli. ² In fact, antimicrobial-resistant E. coli isolates from humans may be  genetically more similar to poultry isolates than susceptible commensal E. coli strains in the human GI tract.³

A U.S. study found that 14% of chicken meat products were contaminated with E. coli strains capable of causing extraintestinal disease, 1/3 of which were mutli-drug resistant.⁴  Another study found that 94% of retail chicken meat samples contained E. coli with ESBL-genes,  of which nearly 40% contained isolates present in humans.⁵

Among women, UTI caused by antimicrobial-resistant extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli has been linked to high levels of self-reported chicken consumption.⁶

The plausibility of foodborne transmission of antimicrobial-resistant E. coli to humans is further supported by the finding that drug resistant E coli from chicken carcasses widely contaminate the kitchen during meal preparation and can appear in the intestinal tract of those who prepare such food.²

Bonus Pearl: Did you know that women with multi-drug resistant E. coli UTI are 3.7 times more likely to report frequent consumption of chicken? ⁶

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References

1. Manges AR. Escherichia coli and urinary tract infections: the role of poultry-meat. Clin Microbiol Infect 2016;22:122-29. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26679924
2. Manges AR, Johnson JR. Reservoirs of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli. Microbiol Spectrum 2012;3(5):UTI-0006-2012. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26542041
3. Johnson JR, Menard M, Johsnton B, et al. Epidemic clonal groups of Escherichia coli as a cause of antimicrobial-resistant urinary tract infections in Canada, 2002 to 2004. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 53;2733-2739. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2704706/
4. Johnson JR, Porter SB, Johnston B, et al. Extraintestinal pathogenic and antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli, including sequence type 131 (ST131) from retail chicken breasts in the United States in 2013. Apppl Environ Microbiol 83:e02956-16. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28062464
5. Leverstein-van Hall MA, Dierikx CM, Stuart JC, et al. Dutch patients, retail chicken meat and poultry share the same ESBL genes, plasmids and strains. Clin Microbiol Infect 2011;17:873-880. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21463397
6. Manges AR, Smith SP, Lau BJ, et al. Retail meat consumption and the acquisition of antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli causing urinary tract infections: a case-control study. Foodborne Path Dis 4:419-431. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18041952