Contamination of liquid soap for hospital use with Raoultella planticola.

This article reports the contamination of a batch of liquid soap for hospital use with Raoultella planticola. The micro-organism was first identified as Klebsiella pneumoniae due to the inability of automated systems to characterize this species. There is a need to strengthen the inspection of cosmetic products to be used in the hospital setting. It is recommended that hospitalized patients at the highest risk of infection should use antimicrobial soaps for personal hygiene. The incidence of infections due to R. planticola is unknown as it is usually misclassified as Klebsiella spp. by automated systems.