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