Moraxella

General:

Clinical: Usually not necessary to speciate.

• Normal:
• Abnormal:

Resistance:

Morphology: Small, plump, Gram- coccobacilli seen in pairs and short chains; may resemble Acinetobacter or Neisseria.

Growth characteristics: Oxidase+, nonmotile, indole negative, and asaccharolytic. Most species do not grow on MacConkey agar. Colonies are usually small (0.5mm at 24hrs, 1.0mm at 48hrs).

Common/important pathogens:

• Moraxella catarrhalis
• Moraxella lacunata
• Moraxella nonliquifaciens
• Moraxella osloensis
• Psychrobacter phenylpyruvicus (Formerly known as Moraxella phenylpyruvicus, it is now in a separate genus, Psychrobacter, but remains in the family Moraxellaceae.)