A Survey of Potential Virulence Factors in Clinical and Environmental Isolates of Serratia Marcescens

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Abstract
Summary One hundred and forty seven isolates of Serratia marcescens were collected from diverse clinical and environmental sources in south-east Texas. Natural isolates were compared with hospital strains for the occurrence of 12 potential virulence determinants. Their overall frequency was as follows: haemolytic activity 48%; lecithinase 95%; lipase 95%; motility 99%; pigmentation 24%; plasmid carriage 46%; proteolytic activity 98%; siderophore activity 99%; urease activity 5%; mannosesensitive haemagglutination 96%; mannose-resistant haemagglutination 61%; and mannose-resistant type-K haemagglutination (MR/K-HA) 68%. Clinical strains demonstrated a significantly higher occurrence of MR/K-HA (p<0.001) and nonpigmentation (p<0.01) than environmental isolates.