''Proteus'' OX19 is a strain of the '' Proteus vulgaris'' bacterium.

History

In 1915,

Arthur Felix Arthur Felix, FRS (3 April 1887 in Andrychów – 17 January 1956 in England) was a Polish-born microbiologist and serologist. Education and early life Arthur Felix was the son of Theodor Felix, who had an interest in printed textiles and who ...

and Edward Weil discovered that ''Proteus'' OX19 reacted to the same human immune antibodies as typhus. 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 during World War II. Dr. Matulewicz realized that since ''Proteus vulgaris'' strain OX19 was used to manufacture the then-common Weil-Felix antibody-agglutination test for typhus, 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 Sir Gareth (; Old French: ''Guerehet'', ''Guerrehet'') is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother ...

, is a fictionalized account of the ''Proteus'' story, with details altered.

References

External links

* * {{cite web , url=http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/eugene.htm , accessdate=2008-04-07 , title=Fake Epidemic Saves a Village from Nazis , work=HolocaustForgotten.com Bacterial diseases Polish resistance during World War II