[Bacteria of the Proteus genus in surface waters]

The authors present the results of quantitative and qualitative detection of bacteria of the Proteus group in the surface waters of various degree of contamination. By the new method of study there was revealed a number of regularities reflecting the ecology of these microbes in water. There proved to be a distinct correlation between the degree of water contamination by salmonellae and Proteus at various seasons of the year (the prevalence in spring and autumn and reduction in summer and winter). Pr. morgani prevailed over the other Proteus species in the water bodies relatively clean by other indices, this pointing to their prolonged survival and possibly reproduction in surface waters. This accounted for the correlation between the quantitative content of salmonellae and Proteus in highly contaminated waters in towns and a discrepancy in these indices lower than the town boundaries, where the processes of water self-purification begin to prevail.