Laboratory Detection of Anaerobic Bacteremia

Update on detection of bacteremia and fungemia.

“…Bacteremia with anaerobic bacteria was first well documented in the 1970s, when blood culture media were improved to make their isolation routine. Anaerobic organisms typically accounted for 10 to 15% of the organisms isolated and, in one study, represented 26% of the total (151,213).…”

“…Most infectious processes that involve anaerobic bacteria occur when the integrity of these normally colonized surfaces is interrupted. The likelihood of anaerobic infection is directly related to the location of infection in continuity with one of these sites (151).…”

“…are most often associated with intra-abdominal processes, and Peptostreptococcus spp. are most often associated with obstetrical or gynecologic infections (151).…”

“…As long as a standard anaerobic blood culture medium is inoculated, blood collection is carried out in standard fashion (142,173). Although blood culture media with a low redox potential should be superior for the growth of anaerobic bacteria, clinical studies have not suggested that there is a significantly improved yield for any particular medium (151).…”

“…In recent studies, the number of anaerobes identified has been too small to make statistical comparisons possible. At best, it would appear that the detection of anaerobes by the lysis-centrifugation system is similar to that with conventional or automated systems (151). With 7D medium, the radiometric BACTEC system detected anaerobes at a rate similar to that with conventional media (173).…”