Identification of Proteus mirabilis in Laboratory Mice

Objective To identify a strain of P.mirabilis isolated from laboratory mice which may provide an useful reference for bacterial detecting and identifying in laboratory animals.Methods The suspicious strain of Salmonella spp isolated from SPF mice was identified by cultural characteristics,colony morphology,staining,motility and biochemical testing,and was further identified with the slide agglutination test.Results The results of cultural characteristics,colony morphology,staining,biochemical testing,and slide agglutination test showed that the isolates was a strain of P.mirabilis but not Salmonella spp.Conclusion Although SPF mice are allowed to be P.mirabilis carriers in our country,it is worthy to state that P.mirabilis is an conditional pathogen,which may cause some potential harm to researchers and laboratory animals,and also can cause certain adverse effect to scientific experiments.It is still to be considered as an important affair because of the special use of the carriers.