Method for differentiating Klebsiella planticola and Klebsiella terrigena from other Klebsiella species.

Conventional methods usually fail to identify Klebsiella planticola and Klebsiella terrigena, which represent up to 19% of clinical Klebsiella isolates. By combining four carbon substrate assimilation tests and two conventional tests, the method identified these species with a specificity and a sensitivity of 100%. Overall, sensitivity for Klebsiella identification was 94.7%.