title: Selected Topics in Anaerobic Bacteriology.
abstract: Alteration in the host microbiome at skin and mucosal surfaces plays a role in the function of the immune system, and may predispose immunocompromised patients to infection. Because obligate anaerobes are the predominant type of bacteria present in humans at skin and mucosal surfaces, immunocompromised patients are at increased risk for serious invasive infection due to anaerobes. Laboratory approaches to the diagnosis of anaerobe infections that occur due to pyogenic, polymicrobial, or toxin-producing organisms are described. The clinical interpretation and limitations of anaerobe recovery from specimens, anaerobe-identification procedures, and antibiotic-susceptibility testing are outlined. Bacteriotherapy following analysis of disruption of the host microbiome has been effective for treatment of refractory or recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, and may become feasible for other conditions in the future.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Medicine, University of Calgary, and Division of Microbiology, Calgary Laboratory Services, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4.
authors.forename: Deirdre L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Church
mesh_terms: D001421:Bacteria, Anaerobic / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host