Question

What is the classification and history of Providencia?

What is the significance of it? How does it relate to science, environment, or health?

Is it pathogenic? If so, what does it cause and what is the treatment? Who does it affect? What part of the world is it found in?

Is there anything about Providencia that makes it unique and interesting?

Answer 1

The genus Providencia includes urease-producing gram-negative bacilli that are responsible for a wide range of human infections. Following is it's classification-

Kingdom- Bacteria

Phylum- Proteobacteria

Class- Gammaprotebacteria

Order- Enterobacteriales

Genus- Enterobacteriacease

The first specie of the genus was isolated in 1904, by Rettger. The bacterium was initially seen in chicken in what was believed to be an epidemic of fowl cholera.

It is pathogenic in nature. Some strains (P. stuartii, for example) are opportunistic pathogens in humans and can cause urinary tract infections, particularly in patients with long-term indwelling urinary catheters or extensive severe burns. Other strains (for example P. burhodogranariea and P. sneebia) are found in the haemolymph of Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies.

In addition, bacterial urease from Proteus, Providencia, and Morganella species, three closely related genera, catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea that results in the formation of carbon dioxide and ammonia. Thus, Providencia species are a gram-negative bacilli that produce bacterial urease, an important virulence factor associated with the formation of urinary tract stones, the obstruction of long-term urinary catheters, or the development of acute pyelonephritis.

They have been identified as part of the normal human gut flora and the genomes of some strains have been sequenced as part of the Human Microbiome Project . Additionally, Providencia have been associated with numerous animals worldwide, including isolation from penguin feces in German zoos , sea turtles in the Mediterranean, shark mouths in Brazil, entomopathogenic nematodes globally, and snakes from Vietnam . Providencia have also been found in association with insects such as blowflies , stable flies , Mexican fruit flies, and house flies . Providencia have also been found in the guts and external environment of Drosophila melanogaster.

Like any other organism, Providencia is unique in it's own way. They represent an emerging problem because of the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance secondary to extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL).

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