First strains of the genus Kluyvera in Czechoslovakia.

Fourteen of 21 strains isolated from stools, urine specimens and the hospital environment were identified as Kluyvera. All of these 14 strains corresponded with the literary description of the genus Kluyvera and were identical with two reference strains except that one of them failed to utilize sodium acetate within 7 days. One strain (No. 23441) produced massive growth on Jordan's tartrate, which some Kluyvera do. Important in differentiating indole- and Simmons' citrate-negative Kluyvera strains from Escherichia vulneris (two other of our 21 strains) is negative ornithin decarboxylase and negative Christensen citrate in the latter. Three strains were identified as Citrobacter, where especially indole-positive and urease-negative strains may be reminiscent of Kluyvera. An aberrant strain, No. 25115, which alone failed to grow at 42 degrees C and by some characters differed from Kluyvera, E. vulneris and Enteric Group 10, was identified as E. coli.