Info on Proteus infections

Just cause I'm curious:



The proteus mirabilis bacteria causes acute cystitis -- inflammation of the urinary bladder -- and concurrent urinary tract infections in dogs, says Dr. Debra Primovic of the PetPlace. Your veterinarian can recommend necessary medical treatment if your pet shows signs of the disease.

Symptoms
1. Canines with proteus-based urinary tract infections typically urinate more frequently and may show with blood or a cloudy consistency in the urine. They can be seen to frequently lick the urethral area and, in severe cases, can stop urinating entirely, advises Dr. Alleice Summers in "Common Diseases of Companion Animals."
Treatment
2. Veterinarians commonly treat proteus bacterial infections with the antibiotics enrofloxacin and gentamycin. Because these antibiotics can cause stomach upset and are not recommended for dogs with kidney disease VetInfo suggests that homeopathic treatments of berberis vulg, cantharis and staphysagris along with the anti-bacterial drugs Zeniquin and Naxcel can be helpful. Giving your pet extra fluids also helps flush out the bacteria.
Warning
3. A proteus infection occasionally causes UTI dogs to develop struvite stones. Stones need to be analyzed to determine their type, the bacterial component involved and the type of treatment needed to prevent recurrence.

It is a nasty sucker! Sophie had that and we were on Zeniquin, and it was one reason her vet was so worried about stones developing. She did have struvites, luckily the retests showed they cleared up.

Canine UTI (urinary tract infection) is primarily a bacterial infection of the bladder. The causes of urinary tract infections in canines varies greatly but the current accepted veterinary treatment of choice is antibiotic medication.

At first glance choosing the correct antibiotic may seem like a simple task for your veterinarian but it is not. Selecting the right antibiotic for each specific type of bacteria is no easy task. Not only does selecting the right antibiotic take training, dosage can be a delicate issue as well.

There are more than just a few antibiotics for canine UTI; your veterinarian will determine the right one through a urinalysis. This test will reveal the bacteria present in active urine leading to one of the following antibiotics being prescribed.

Current List of Antibiotics for Canine UTI:

* Amoxicillin - Staphylococci, streptococci, enterococci, Proteus
* Ampicillin - Staphylococci, streptococci, enterococci, Proteus
* Amoxicillin/clavulanic acid - Staphylococci, streptococci, enterococci, Proteus
* Cephalexin/cefadroxil - Staphylococci, streptococci, Proteus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella
* Ceftiofur - Escherichia coli, Proteus
* Enrofloxacin - Staphylococci, some streptococci, some enterococci, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter
* Gentamicin - Staphylococci, some streptococci, some enterococci, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter
* Nitrofurantonin - Staphylococci, some streptococci, some enterococci, Escherichia coli, Proteus, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter
* Tetracycline - Streptococci, some activity against staphylococci and enterococci at high urine concentrations
* Trimethoprim/sulfa - Streptococci, staphylococci, Escherichia coli, Proteus, some activity against enterococci and Klebsiella

While antibiotics have shown to be effective for urinary tract infections in canines repeated use or prescribing the wrong antibiotic can create a whole new set of problems. One of the main fears with any antibiotic treatment is that bacteria will evolve and become immune to antibiotic treatment over time. There also seems to antidotal evidence that unbridled antibiotic use for canine UTI can over time weaken the immune system. These two reasons are why many dog owners are opting for natural alternative treatments for canine UTI. These formulas have been shown to be a viable alternative to antibiotics and have no side effects.

Your next step? Take this information and use it as a guide to help you become more knowledgeable about antibiotic options for canine UTI's or if you are a natural health minded person, finding a homeopathic remedy to cure your dog's urinary tract infection. Natural remedies, such as homeopathy, are very effective in getting rid of urinary tract infections and addressing the root cause, so your dog can heal permanently.

R.D. Hawkins is an enthusiastic advocate of alternative natural pet health products and supplements with over 10 years experience. To learn more about homeopathic natural pet health visit Purchase Remedies.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_D_Hawkins

Proteus can cause urinary tract infections and hospital-acquired infections. Proteus is unique, however, because it is highly motile and does not form regular colonies. Instead, Proteus forms what are known as "swarming colonies" when plated on non-inhibitory media. The most important member of this genus is considered to be Proteus mirabilis, a cause of wound and urinary tract infections. Fortunately, most strains of Proteus mirabilis are sensitive to ampicillin and cephalosporins. Unlike its relative, Proteus vulgaris is not sensitive to these antibiotics. However, this organism is isolated less often in the laboratory and usually only targets immunosuppressed individuals. Proteus mirabilis and Proteus vulgaris can be differentiated by an indole test for which only Proteus vulgaris tests positive. Proteus vulgaris occurs naturally in the intestines of humans and a wide variety of animals; also manure, soil and polluted waters.

More than 80% of human urinary tract infections (UTI) are due to the bacterium, Escherichia coli, but urinary infections due to Proteus mirabilis are also well documented. Proteus mirabilis once attached to urinary tract, infects the kidney more commonly than E. coli. Proteus mirabilis belongs to family Enterobacteriaceae and is a gram-negative motile swarmer bacterium. Proteus mirabilis are often found as free living organisms in soil and water but they are also parasitic in the upper urinary tract of human beings.

Blanche, a fair number of P mirabilis (we ALWAYS italicize the genus and species of bacteria, fungi and viruses) are RESISTANT to amoxicillin/ampicillin (they're almost identical drugs with respect to spectrum of activity. And almost ALL P vulgaris are resistant to amoxicillin. It's really important to check susceptibilities of these bugs.

One can do a 'quick and dirty' check of the urinary pH, and if it's high, the UTI will be caused by one of the two major urea-splitting organisms: Proteus or Ureaplasma. Then after getting a culture an antibiotic can be started and then, when the C&S results are back, switching the antibiotic, if necessary.

I don't know where you got the information you did, but they don't seem to know much about microbiology: it's GENTAMICIN (with an 'I' between the 'm' and the 'c'). That might sound minor, but to microbiologists the spelling is a BIG deal: that's because gentamicin is derived from the fungus, Microminospora. Note that there are NO 'y's in that name. And tobramycin, which, like gentamicin, is an aminoglycoside antibiotic, is derived from the fungusActinomyces. Thus the spelling of the antibiotic gives a clue to the organism from which it's derived. And if there's one thing that distinguishes people who know their antibiotics from those who don't, it's how they spell gentamicin. Picky, but true! So I don't put much store in the source from which the information you posted was derived.

viralmd wrote:Blanche, a fair number of P mirabilis (we ALWAYS italicize the genus and species of bacteria, fungi and viruses) are RESISTANT to amoxicillin/ampicillin (they're almost identical drugs with respect to spectrum of activity. And almost ALL P vulgaris are resistant to amoxicillin. It's really important to check susceptibilities of these bugs.

One can do a 'quick and dirty' check of the urinary pH, and if it's high, the UTI will be caused by one of the two major urea-splitting organisms: Proteus or Ureaplasma. Then after getting a culture an antibiotic can be started and then, when the C&S results are back, switching the antibiotic, if necessary.

I don't know where you got the information you did, but they don't seem to know much about microbiology: it's GENTAMICIN (with an 'I' between the 'm' and the 'c'). That might sound minor, but to microbiologists the spelling is a BIG deal: that's because gentamicin is derived from the fungus, Microminospora. Note that there are NO 'y's in that name. And tobramycin, which, like gentamicin, is an aminoglycoside antibiotic, is derived from the fungusActinomyces. Thus the spelling of the antibiotic gives a clue to the organism from which it's derived. And if there's one thing that distinguishes people who know their antibiotics from those who don't, it's how they spell gentamicin. Picky, but true! So I don't put much store in the source from which the information you posted was derived.

Good to know, Alice. The post with the Gentamycin spelling does mention the source, albeit obliquely--it's PetPlace. I try to get a variety of articles to read since I never trust one single source. Good to know that if their spelling is incorrect, so likely are other things.

I, personally, was surprised to see Amoxcillin listed as given the frequency with which it is prescribed and the frequency with which we have dogs diagnosed with Proteus, I wondered about it's effectiveness.

this is why it's so great to have you back to posting.

Just a quick question, Alice. I did some googling of gentamycin and gentamicin and both spellings seem to be used interchangeably.

Are there two different antibiotics or the same ABX with two different spellings? Quite a few of the articles that come up, including one from the WHO--spell it Gentamycin in the article's title while using Gentamicin in the body of the article and others spell it one way with alternate spelling in parentheses.

All guaranteed to confuse the heck out of folks like me.....

And to further confuse the whole issue, it appears the tradename is Garamycin. There's some reference to Gentamycin being an older spelling since dismissed by the AMA as inaccurate.

Gentamicin (NOT GENTAMYCIN- that is blantantly WRONG) is the generic name. Garamycin is the trade name, one that a pharmaceutical company makes up and patents to sell ITS own brand of gentamicin). All available gentamicins that are on the market have submitted clinical pharmacology and pharmacokinetic data to regulators prior to approval for sale, to ensure that the formulations meet national/EU requirements for bioavailability, half-life, etc.

Gentamicin and gentamycin are absolutely NOT used interchangeably. EVER.

I would suggest that those who use 'gentamycin' are not medically educated and would take any information provided with a truckload of salt.

So they are different drugs--sorry if this is a stupid question--I'm just having trouble figuring out if a drug called Gentamycin exists or if it's an erroneous spelling.

I'm guessing from your post that there ARE two separate and distinct drugs?

No, there are NOT two drugs. Gentamycin is incorrectly spelled gentamicin. If anyone posts something on the internet about 'gentamycin,' he/she has no idea of what he/she is talking about. It's just WRONG.

viralmd wrote:No, there are NOT two drugs. Gentamycin is incorrectly spelled gentamicin. If anyone posts something on the internet about 'gentamycin,' he/she has no idea of what he/she is talking about. It's just WRONG.

Thank you. It's clear now.