Proteus OX19 is a strain of the bacterium Proteus vulgaris, a simple gram negative bacteria that is commonly found in dirt and water. It is a fairly unremarkable bacteria, some exposed to it might suffer urinary tract infections or infections of wounds. However, most infected with the bacteria will suffer few symptoms as the body’s immune system eradicates the invading microbe. It does have one interesting reaction, however. People exposed to Proteus OX19 often test false positive for typhus, a disease which is much deadlier and can cause terrible outbreaks and epidemics.
When Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1st, 1939, Dr. Eugeniusz Lazowski was served as an army doctor with the Polish Army. After the occupation of Poland by Germany, Dr. Lazowski returned home to Rozwadow to continue his private medical practice. However, he heard news of mass deportations of Poles and Jews by the Nazi’s. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were being rounded up and deported to concentration camps. Hundreds of thousands of Poles were also being deported to Germany as forced labor. It was only a matter of time before the Germans demanded the deportation of Poles from Rozwadow, and Lazowski was determined that the Nazi’s would go empty handed.
Lazowski solution was ingenious and audacious; to keep the Germans away from Rozwadow by simulating a fake typhus epidemic. At the time, Germany was terrified of the prospect of a typhus outbreak spreading across the Fatherland, and strict protocols were in place to isolate and quarantine infect areas. Inspired by the Proteus microbe, Lazowski informed German medical officials that Rozwadow was being ravaged by a terrible typhus epidemic. With the help of his friend, Dr Stanisław Matulewicz, Dr. Lazowski injected the people of Rozwadow with proteus OX19, as well as the residents of several nearby Jewish ghettos, so that they would all test false positive for typhus. He then sent blood samples to German medical officials. As predicted, the samples all tested false positive for typhus.
In response, the Germans sent three medical inspectors to assess the seriousness of the epidemic. The three inspectors were greeted cordially and plied with food and generous amounts of vodka. They were then given a short tour of the town. Due to fears of contracting the disease, the Germans only made a cursory examination of the town. Then they were led to a fake medical ward filled with severely ill patients. Dr. Lazowski claimed they were suffering from typhus, and again due to the German’s fear of contracting the disease, they made no medical assessments. Instead they took Dr. Lazowski at his word, sped out of Razwadow, declaring the town and surrounding area to be in a state of quarantine. Little did they know, the so called “patients” the German’s were led to were people with flu and pneumonia, told to act as sick as possible.
Due to the quarantine, the Germans never deported anyone from Razwadow or the ghettos. As a result, he is credited with saving 8,000 Jews from certain death, and thousands of other Poles from deportation. Throughout the rest of the war he lent his medical services to the Polish resistance, and worked to smuggle Jews to safety from the Nazi’s. After the war he moved to the United States and worked as a pediatrician. He died in 2006 at the age of 96.
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