Pseudomonas

Pseudomonas [‚süd·ə′mōn·əs]

(microbiology)

A genus of gram-negative, motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacteria that cause a variety of infectious diseases in animals and humans (such as glanders and melioidosis) and in plants.

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Pseudomonas

A genus of gram-negative, nonsporeforming, rod-shaped bacteria. Motile species possess polar flagella. They are strictly aerobic, but some members do respire anaerobically in the presence of nitrate. Some species produce acids oxidatively from carbohydrates; none is fermentative and none photosynthetic.

Members of the genus Pseudomonas cause a variety of infective diseases; some species cause disease of plants. One species, P. mallei, is a mammalian parasite, and is the causative agent of glanders, an infectious disease of horses that occasionally is transmitted to humans by direct contact. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most significant cause of hospital-acquired infections, particularly in predisposed patients with metabolic, hematologic, and malignant diseases. The spectrum of clinical disease ranges from urinary tract infections to septicemia, pneumonia, meningitis, and infections of postsurgical and posttraumatic wounds. See Meningitis, Pneumonia