[Mechanisms of intrahospital urinary infections with proteus].

The study of 812 washings showed that Proteus is seldom detected in the environment of the patients with spinal traumas and infections of the urinary system. This can be attributed to the low resistance of Proteus to drying revealed by special experiments. The survival time was 1 day for Pr. vulgaris, 2 week for Pr. rettgeri, 5 and 7 months for E. coli and enterococcus, respectively. Dienes's test made with 90 Proteus strains revealed the common source of contamination in a half of the observations made, thus confirming the hospital origin of Proteus contamination of urine at a definite period of time (3-4 months) and establishing that an almost complete change of the strains occurred during 8 months of observation. In the author's opinion, the source of Proteus is the patients' urine; Proteus can spread therefrom as a result of the insufficiently thorough sanitary treatment of the hands of the medical personnel and the urogenital area of the patients.