Five-year retrospective epidemiological survey of anaerobic bacteraemia in a University Hospital and Review of the Literature

Abstract

In spite of the developments in microbiological methods, blood cultures remain the cornerstone for the diagnosis of bacteraemia. Classically, minimum of two bottles are collected on a routine basis: an aerobic bottle, allowing preferential growth of aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms, and an anaerobic bottle, providing suitable environment for strict anaerobic bacteria. Recent reports have documented a decrease in anaerobic bacteraemias and have questioned the need for routine anaerobic blood cultures. Bacteraemia due to anaerobic organisms occurs in 0.5-12% of blood cultures worldwide; however, recent studies from Europe and the USA presented inconsistent data regarding the prevalence of anaerobic bacteraemias between 1993 and 2006. The aims of this retrospective survey were to determine the prevalence of bacteraemias due to anaerobic bacteria and evaluate the importance of anaerobic blood cultures in a university hospital in Szeged, Hungary. We examined the occurrence of bacteraemias due to anaerobic bacteria during a 5-year period, from January 2005 to 2009, in order to identify current trends of anaerobic bacteraemias in our university.