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Previous Volume 336:1262 April 24, 1997 Number 17 Next

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To the Editor: The Image in Clinical Medicine in the November 7 issue¹ shows the strangest looking Klebsiella pneumoniae I have ever seen, since it appears to be a diploid coccobacillus that has one flat edge, much like a coffee bean. Are you sure that it isn't a neisseria, acinetobacter, or moraxella species?

Paul H. Edelstein, M.D.
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Philadelphia, PA 19104-4283

References

1. Phillips DM. Klebsiella pneumoniae. N Engl J Med 1996;335:1437-1437. [Free Full Text]

To the Editor: Dr. Edelstein is correct that the organism does not look like klebsiella. The image is a micrograph that I took about 15 years ago, and I no longer have records of where I obtained the specimen. Clearly, however, I must have mixed up samples, or there was contamination by another organism, because the micrograph is of cocci, not klebsiella, which is a rod-shaped organism. I appreciate your calling this mistake to my attention.

David M. Phillips, Ph.D.
Population Council
New York, NY 10021

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