Urease test

• Tests for the ability of the bacteria to metabolize urea by using phenol red to detect a pH change from lysis of urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide
• Often found in bacteria that cause urinary tract infections
• Procedure
  • Into a tube with urea medium, stab an inoculum of the isolate into the medium then streak the slant
  • Incubate with a loose lid at 35ºC for 24 hours
  • Positive if the orange-yellow color turns bright pink
• Common urease-positive organisms include
  • Proteus species
  • Cryptococcus species
  • Corynebacterium species
  • Helicobacter pylori
  • Brucella species
  • Nocardia species
  • Ureaplasma species
• All organisms include: {#ask: urease-positive"urease-positive" is not in the list (positive, negative, variable) of allowed values for the "Urease" property.}