Recovery of anaerobic bacteria from pediatric patients. A one-year experience
I. Brook, W. J. Martin, J. D. Cherry and C. V. Sumaya
During 1975, 115 speciments from the soft tissues, body fluids, and
purulent sites in 105 pediatric ward and nursery patients were submitted to
the clinical laboratory for anaerobic study, and 75% of the cultures were
positive. In most instance specimens were collected in anaerobic transport
tubes containing peptone yeast extract and glucose. In the laboratory,
samples were processed by the anaerobic holding jar method. Nineteen
different anaerobic organisms were isolated; the average number of species
per specimen was 1.8 Bacteroides sp were the most common isolates (45
strains). Other isolates included 44 anaerobic cocci (15 of which were
Peptostreptococcus sp), 22 Propionibacterium sp, ten Fusobacterium sp, nine
Clostridium sp, eight Veillonella sp, six Bifidobacterium sp, and four
Eubacterium sp. The main sources of anaerobic isolates included 52 gastric
aspirates, 46 soft tissue sites, 14 blood specimens, 12 CSF samples, and 12
samples from the external ear canals. Forty-one (43%) of the 86 specimens
that contained anaerobic bacteria also had aerobic organisms present.
