Bacteremia due to anaerobic bacteria: epidemiology in a northern Bari Hospital, Italy

Background. Anaerobic bacteria are part of the commensal bacterial flora of skin and mucosae. Iatrogenic and pathological conditions altering this commensal relationship cause life-threatening diseases.
Materials and Methods. We analysed the blood cultures sent to the microbiology of our hospital between 2008 and the first quarter of 2013 to measure the frequency of bacteraemia caused by anaerobia. We examined 3138 vials of blood cultures for anaerobia, inoculated following in-house standard procedures. The colonies grown in absence of air were subjected to biochemical analysis. The MICs of metronidazole for 23 of the 26 organisms was tested.
Results. Twelve bacteria of the Bacteroides genus were identified, 9 Propionibacterium acnes, 1 Peptosctreptococcus micros, 1 Lactobacillus acidophilus, 1 Clostridium perfringens, 1 Prevotella oralis, 1 Eubacterium lentum.
Conclusions. The analysis of the results suggests that the incidence of cultures positive to anaerobia was constant across the years. We note that advanced age, altered mucocutaneous tropism, alterations to the oral and intestinal bacterial flora intensify the risk of anaerobial pathogenicity. The analysis of the metronidazole-determined MIC suggests that the intestinal anaerobic flora responds well to therapy and prophylaxis with Metronidazole, while the anaerobic bacteria residing on skin and other mucosae are resistant. It is however hard to determine the clinical impact of anaerobic bacteremiae and their effect on the outcome of the patient, due to the scarcity of available clinical data.