[Urinary tract infections and microbiological characteristics of Proteus penneri isolated in Taiwan]

Proteus penneri has been reported to be involved in urinary tract infections and calculi formation. We analyzed 2,265 positive urine cultures from patients hospitalized in Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan and found that 47 patients (2.1%) were infected by P. penneri. Most of the patients were male with age over sixty and had been treated with various kinds of antibiotics. Most of the patient's urine were collected by catheter. They were alkaline (pH 8.0) and contained amorphous phosphate, triple phosphate and protein. All the isolates of P. penneri in Taiwan showed beta-hemolysis and slight swarming on sheep blood agar plate, and exhibited a green color on upper layer of sulfide-indole-motility medium after addition of Kovacs indole reagent. Except for nitrate reduction and N2 production, the biochemical characteristics of the P. penneri isolated in Taiwan were similar to those of P. penneri isolated otherwise. The Taiwan isolates of this organism were highly susceptible to cefotaxime, cefotazidime, cefotizoxime, moxalactam, nalidixic acid; but were resistant to ampicillin, carbenicillin, cefonicid, cefoperazone, ceftriaxone, cephalexin, cephapirin, chloramphenicol, clindamycin, gentamicin, nitrofurantoin, oxacillin, piperacillin, tetracycline, tobramycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, vancomycin, and cephalothin.