Identification of species and capsular types of Klebsiella clinical isolates, with special reference to Klebsiella planticola

Microbiol Immunol. 1989;33(11):887-95. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1989.tb00976.x.

Abstract

In the 77 reference strains for Klebsiella K types, there are 17 strains (22.1%) of Klebsiella planticola, 6 strains (7.8%) of Klebsiella oxytoca, 1 strain (1.3%) of Klebsiella terrigena, and 53 strains (68.8%) of Klebsiella pneumoniae. The species K. planticola, which was originally isolated from botanical and aquatic environments and hence thus named, was also identified at high incidence (81 strains, 18.5%) among the 439 recent clinical isolates of Klebsiella species. Among these K. planticola strains of hospital origin, 52 (64%) were isolated from sputum, 17 (21%) from urine, and the remaining 12 (15%) from other sources. The capsular types of these isolates were determined by the gel precipitation reaction. Seventy of 81 K. planticola isolates (86.4%) were typable by antisera to Klebsiella reference strains for K types and the K types of the clinical isolates distributed to 35 kinds of K types. The proportion of typable strains among clinical isolates of K. planticola was very similar to those in K. pneumoniae (87.5%) and K. oxytoca (86.0%).

MeSH terms

  • Antigens, Bacterial / analysis
  • Humans
  • Klebsiella / classification*
  • Klebsiella / immunology
  • Klebsiella / metabolism
  • Klebsiella Infections / microbiology*
  • Polysaccharides, Bacterial / immunology
  • Serotyping

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Polysaccharides, Bacterial