The strain was isolated urin the years 1960-1962 from the urine of a spiny rat (Proechimyxs semispinosus) trappe in the Panama Canal Zone by Gale and typed by Galton (WHO, 1967). No typing results were publisehd. The official serovar list of 1967 (Annex 1) does not contain this strain, however it is mentioned in Annex 2 of this list under the name beye, with strain code LT 844.
The strain was submitted to factor analysis by Kmety (1977), who escribed it as represinting a new serovar of the propose new Mini serogroup. Later Sulzer et al. (1982) confirmed its separate serological status by agglutinin-absorption test results, but designated the reference strain as 1537 U. The serovar beye was recognized by the TSC Manchester meeting of 1986 and the prevous laboratory code number of the reference strain was replaced by the designation 1537 U in the REvised List of 1988.