A Study of Proteus Infections in a Male Urological Ward

During 1954 the high incidence of Proteus infec- tions in a ward devoted to male urological surgery gave cause for concern.In an attempt to bring the infection under control a detailed study was made of the organisms concerned and the results were correlated with the characters of Proteus organisms isolated elsewhere in the hospital.The work reported here is an account of some aspects of this study. Scheme of StudyAll samples of urine received from a 22-bed male urological ward, on which bacteriological examination was requested, were examined for Proteus.All swabs from post-operative wound infections in the same ward were similarly examined for Proteus.When the organ- ism was isolated, precise definition of species and strain was attempted, and any possible source of a homologous strain was sought.Isolation of Organisms Specimens of urine were obtained by the " mid- stream" technique.When received in the laboratory they were centrifuged for five minutes at 2,000 r.p.m., and the deposits were plated on MacConkey's agar and on blood agar containing "dispersol " L.N. (Mackie and McCartney, 1948).Preliminary serial subcultures of known strains of Proteus had failed to show any change in the biochemical reactions of the organisms due to growth on " dispersol "-blood agar.Cultures of organisms isolated were maintained during routine testing on nutrient agar slopes in bijou bottles, and a number of representative strains were preserved in glass ampoules by freeze drying. Definition and Identification of StrainsHauser in 1885 was one of the first to attempt an adequate description of the genus Proteus.