What diseases does Serratia marcescens cause?
What diseases does Serratia marcescens cause?
Well-documented infections caused by S. marcescens include pneumonia, urinary tract infection, bacteremia, biliary tract infection, wound infection, meningitis, and endocarditis. Rarely does it present as cellulitis and necrotizing fasciitis (NF), resulting in severe sepsis and multiorgan failure.
Can you distinguish the Serratia marcescens?
Can you distinguish the Serratia marcescens broth from the Staphylococcus aureus broth? Serratia marcescens has a purple/pinkish color.
What does Serratia marcescens look like?
Serratia marcescens is a gram-negative rod-shaped facultatively anaerobic bacterium that is extremely motile. An S. marcescens gram stain shows short, pink-colored dots, as seen below. Rod-shaped bacteria, bacilliform bacteria or bacilli describe the typical shape of Serratia marcescens.
Where do you find Serratia marcescens?
Most of us have seen Serratia marcescens in our daily environment when colonies of the bacteria appear in the toilet bowl, shower stall, bathtub, or the pet’s water dish as a pink film. In addition to appearing on water surfaces, it is also found in dust in the feces of animals and humans.
How is Serratia treated?
Serratia infections should be treated with an aminoglycoside plus an antipseudomonal beta-lactam, as the single use of a beta-lactam can select for resistant strains. Most strains are susceptible to amikacin, but reports indicate increasing resistance to gentamicin and tobramycin.
How do you get rid of Serratia marcescens?
Once established, the organism usually cannot be eliminated entirely. However, periodic and thorough cleaning of the surfaces where the pink slime occurs, followed by disinfection with chlorine bleach, appears to be the best way to control it.
Is Serratia marcescens in water?
Serratia bacteria are common inhabitants of our environment and can be found in many places, including human and animal feces, dust, soil, and in surface waters. Serratia will not survive in chlorinated drinking water. Serratia marcescens is not known to cause any waterborne diseases.
What antibiotic treats Serratia marcescens?
What are the risk factors for Serratia cutaneous infections?
Serratia spp. have been associated with surgical site infection (SSI) outbreaks associated with specific providers, topical creams and contaminated saline products. Patient risk factors for developing infection with this organism have not been extensively studied.
What are the treatments for serratia bacteria?
Serratia Infections. For a urinary tract infection,the symptoms might include itching,burning discharge,and pain in the kidneys.
Is serratia bacteria harmful?
At one point in time, serratia marcescens was believed to be a completely harmless organism. Recently, however, scientific research has shown that s. marcescens can be a harmful bacterium. Serratia marcescens is now known to be a common cause of human infections in the respiratory tract, digestive tract, and in wound site infection.
What is Serratia sepsis?
Serratia sepsis: Introduction. Serratia sepsis: Blood infection caused by bacteria from the Serratia genus. These bacteria are a rare cause of infection. More detailed information about the symptoms , causes, and treatments of Serratia sepsis is available below.
