Reclassification of 30 Pasteurellaceae strains isolated from rodents.

Thirty Pasteurellaceae strains isolated from gerbil, guineapig, hamster, mouse, muskrat and rat were reinvestigated and reclassified after comparison with reference strains. Strains originally described as Pasteurella pneumotropica were reclassified as [Pasteurella] pneumotropica Heyl biotype (7), [P.] pneumotropica Jawetz biotype (1), Pasteurella dagmatis (1) or Taxon 22 (2). Strains previously reported as Actinobacillus sp. were reclassified as [P.] pneumotropica biotype Jawetz (3), P. dagmatis (3) or Taxon 6 (7). Strains earlier described as Pasteurella gallinarum were renamed as SP group pasteurella (4) or Taxon 25 (2). Some of these reclassified Pasteurellaceae have not been reported previously in rodents. The present findings underline the importance of extended characterization of isolates and comparison with references strains to avoid misclassification within the family Pasteurellaceae Pohl 1981.