Proteus
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Overview
- Inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract
- Not pathogenic in the gut
- Opportunistic infections
Characteristics
- Non-lactose fermentors
- Produce hydrogen sulphide
- Urease positive (differentiate from Salmonella)
- Highly motile via flagellae
- May swarm on blood agar
- Grow on MacConkey agar, producing colourless colonies
- Produce yellow-green colonies on Brilliant Green agar
Clinical infections
- Pathogenic strains include Proteus mirabilis and Proteus vulgaris
- Proteus mirabilits associated with sporadic infections in dogs, cats, cattle, fowl
- Urinary tract infections in dogs, cats and horses
- Formation of struvite or apatite stone in the kidney (catalysed by urease)
- Associated with otitis externa in dogs
- Wound infections
- In deep pyoderma
NEVER a pathogen in the gut.