title: Are anaerobic bacteria involved in peripheral vein catheter associated thrombophlebitis?
abstract: While thrombophlebitis is a common complication of intravenous therapy, infection has been shown to be a cause of this problem in only a minority of cases. However, the methodology employed in the past would not have detected the anaerobes as a cause of this problem. As anaerobes are associated with thrombophlebitis in situations such as septic pelvic thrombophlebitis, we undertook a study to see if they might also be involved in thrombophlebitis associated with peripheral vein catheters. We prospectively studied 26 episodes of peripheral intravenous catheter associated thrombophlebitis. These catheters were all cultured under aerobic conditions by the semiquantitative technique on blood agar plates. In addition, they were promptly processed and cultured under optimal anaerobic conditions. In none of the episodes of thrombophlebitis were the catheters positive on semiquantitative culture. In addition, we did not show the presence of anaerobes on any of these catheters. We conclude that there is no evidence that anaerobes are associated with peripheral vein thrombophlebitis.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, Westmead Hospital, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Collignon
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sorrell
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Garret
mesh_terms: D001421:Bacteria, Anaerobic / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000209:etiology*; D002406:Catheterization, Peripheral / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013924:Thrombophlebitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology