''Proteus'' OX19 is a strain of the ''
Proteus vulgaris
''Proteus vulgaris'' is a rod-shaped, nitrate-reducing, indole-positive and catalase-positive, hydrogen sulfide-producing, Gram-negative bacterium that inhabits the intestinal tracts of humans and animals. It can be found in soil, water, and ...
'' bacterium.
History
In 1915,
Arthur Felix and Edward Weil discovered that ''Proteus'' OX19 reacted to the same human immune antibodies as
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
. Other ''Proteus'' strains were similarly used to create reagents for other rickettsiae diseases, thus resulting in the commercial
Weil-Felix antibody-agglutination test.
Use in fake epidemic in Poland
Drs.
Eugeniusz Lazowski and his medical-school friend Stanisław Matulewicz were practicing in the small town of Rozwadów in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Dr. Matulewicz realized that since ''Proteus vulgaris'' strain OX19 was used to manufacture the then-common Weil-Felix antibody-agglutination test for
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
, inoculating villagers with dead Proteus would cause a false positive result without causing any disease. When the blood samples of the townspeople were sent to the German authorities for testing, authorities were convinced a typhus epidemic was raging in Rozwadów, and the area was avoided by the Germans, saving thousands of Poles.
In fiction
The novel 1979 ''Night Trains'', by
Barbara Wood and
Gareth Wootton, is a fictionalized account of the ''Proteus'' story, with details altered.
References
External links
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q7251702
Bacterial diseases
Polish resistance during World War II