Proteus vulgaris

Proteus vulgaris is a rod-shaped (bacilli) Gram negative bacterium (a chemoheterotroph) that inhabits the intestinal tracts of animals and can be pathogenic. Proteus vulgaris is in the Proteobacteria. Notation: Proteus vulgaris can also be found in soil, stagnant water, standing water, fecal matter, raw meats, and dust.

The term Proteus signifies changeability of form, as personified in the Homeric poems in Proteus, "the old man of the sea," who tends the sealflocks of Poseidon and has the gift of endless transformation. The first use of the term “Proteus” in bacteriological nomenclature was made by Hauser (1885) who described under this term three types of organisms which he isolated from putrefied meat. One of the three species Hauser identified was Proteus vulgaris so this organism has a long history in Microbiology.

Over the past two decades the genus Proteus, and in particular P. vulgaris, has undergone a number of major taxonomic revisions. In 1982, P. vulgaris was separated into three biogroups on the basis of indole production. Biogroup one was indole negative and represented a new species: P. penneri; while biogroup two and three remained together as P. vulgaris.

In humans, it can cause urinary tract infections and wound infections. Notation: Proteus vulgaris is a common cause of sinus and respitory infections, especially in South East Asia, and can be extremely hard to irradicate in sinus and respitory tissues. A typical sinus and or respitory infection caused by P. vulgaris can take weeks or even months to irradicate in humans, even using the few antibiotics that the P. vulgaris pathogen is sensitive to. P. vulgaris can be deadly when in the sinus or respitory tissues, if left untreated or is treated with antibiotics that have only an intermediate effect on P. vulgaris.

Notation: Known antibiotics that P. vulgaris is sensitive to:

Ciprofloxacin, Ceftazidime, Netilmicin, Sulbactam or Cefoperazo, Meropenem, Piperacil or Tazobactam, Unasyn.

Antibiotics should be introduced in much higher doses than "normal" when P. vulgaris has infected the sinus or respitory tissues. I.E.- Ciprofloxacin should be introduced at a level of at least 2000mg per day orally in such a situation, rather than the "standard" 1000mg per day.

"P. vulgaris" produces acid with the fermentation of glucose and sucrose, but none while fermenting lactose. "P. vulgaris is urease positive, positive for motility, nitrate reductase, catalase. Optimal growing temperature is 23 degrees C in a facultative environment.

Proteus vulgaris