Three Episodes of Nosocomial Urinary Tract Infections Caused by One O-serotype of Providencia Stuartii

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Abstract
The results of O-serotyping P. stuartii [Proteus inconstans] isolates in a general hospital showed that 43 isolates were the same serotype (O63) and were from 15 patients located in 1 of 2 adjacent wards. On retrospective examination it was found that the series of infections occurred during 9 mo. and could be separated into 3 episodes, involving 7, 6 and 2 patients. All patients who acquired the P. stuartii O63 strain were catheterized. The introduction of the strain into the hospital was attributed to a patient catheterized before admission from an institution in which the O63 strain was identified previously. Antibiotic irrigation was not successful in eliminating P. stuartii from the urine and the procedure may be a predisposing factor in preferentially selecting strains of this species.