The strain was isolated in Czechoslovakia from the kidney of a hedgehor (Erinceus roumanicus) in 1953 (Kmety, 1954). It was later submitted to factor analysis and described as a new serovar named bratislava (Kmety, 1960).
In Dikken and Kmety's publication (1978) it is placed in the sugroup Jalna.
A footnote in the list of serotypes of 1967 (WHO, 1967) states that the nomenclature of this serovar is being examined further. Doubts concerning the naming of this serovar occured because both names L. erinacei europei and L. esposito appeared in literature of 1954 (Ananyin), and 195 (Smith and Brown) respectively, but neigther publication contained a valid description of the serovar.