Anaerobic infections in children: a prospective survey.
Over an 18-month period, cultures from 95 infants and children yielded 146 anaerobic organisms in 110 clinical specimens. Bacteroides was the most frequently isolated anaerobe, followed by Propionibacterium and Clostridium species. Intra-abdominal sources, soft tissues, and blood were the three major sources (82%) of isolation of anaerobes. Whereas most patients (58%) were over 5 years of age and only 11% were newborns, anaerobic infections constituted a rather uniform proportion of all infections, regardless of sources, in all age groups. Anaerobes accounted for only 2.9% of all positive cultures encountered from the various sources. Rates of recovery of anaerobes from intra-abdominal sources were significantly the highest, and from soft-tissue infections they were significantly the lowest. The anaerobic bacteremias observed were of no clinical significance when Propionibacterium species were isolated; however, recovery of other anaerobes from the blood, and primarily Bacteroides species, was usually associated with clinical disease. Except in blood cultures, anaerobes almost invariably coexisted with facultative bacteria.
D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D001439:Bacteroides / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003013:Clostridium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011424:Propionibacterium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013045:Species Specificity