Characteristics of weak H2S-producing isolates of Pseudomonas putrefaciens from human infections.

Isolates from human clinical specimens which produced salmon-colored colonies were found to grow at 2C and produce ornthine decarboxylase, DNase, trimethylamine and only slight amounts of H2S. The notably weak ability of such isolates to produce H2S was originally regarded as a negative reaction. The DNA base composition of such isolates was found to range from 48.3 to 49.2 moles % GC. These observations, along with bacteriocin typing, resulted in identification of the isolates as Pseudomonas putrefaciens.