SERRATIA-MARCESCENS - HISTORICAL-PERSPECTIVE AND CLINICAL REVIEW

SERRATIA MARCESCENS is a bacterium recognized with increasing frequency as a cause of serious infection in man. This micro-organism has a romantic history dating to antiquity, when, because of production of a red pigment, it masqueraded as blood. In this century, this distinctive pigmentation, combined with its apparent low level of virulence, led to its use as a biologic marker. This article will review the more distinctive historical aspects of S. marcescens and discuss its clinical status as an emerging pathogen. Bacteriology Serratia marcescens is an aerobic, motile, gram-negative bacillus classified as a member of the division klebsiella-enterobacter-serratia, within the. © 1979, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.