Abstract

Anaerobic bacteria, known to be a normal flora on mucous membrane and skin surface, has now become a well accepted opportunistic pathogen. It causes various infections when the host’s defense mechanism is impaired. In recent years, with the increasing number of major surgery, chemotherapy of radiation and steroid therapy, such opportunities are ever increasing. Consequently, varieties of anaerobic infections have been reported, and their importance in the modern clinical medicine can not be over emphasized in these days. The authors reviewed the outcome of their routine anaerobic cultures at Yonsei Medical Center during the period of May 1975 to May 1977. They tried to analyse and correlate the patients’ clinical conditions with the yielding anaerobic bacteria. The following results were obtained. 1. A total number of 148 anaerobic organisms was isolated out of 103 clinical specimens. Those which yielded anaerobes most frequently were specimens from pleuropulmonary, abdominal, and female genital sources. 2. The more frequently isolated species were Peptococcus asaccharolyticus, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, Ps. intermedius, Clostridium perfringens, Bacteroides fragilis and B. melaninogenicus. 3. Out of the 99 specimens of knows sources, 58.6% yielded anaerobes alone, but the remaining 41. 4% yielded both anaerobes and aerobes together. 4. With the review of 73 available patiens’ records, it was found that the serious clinical conditions included epidural abscess, lung abscess, empyema, liver abscess, intraabdominal infections and endometritis. 5. Many patients had some kind of underlying conditions, such as viceral rupture, various operations, open wound and burn etc. These conditions are thought to be one of the predisposing factors in their infections. 6. Some of the patients with thoracic and abdominal infections ended up with septicemia of anaerobes. These examples demonstrated eloquently the grave nature of some of the anaerobe infections.