Anaerobic Bacteriology

Specimen Selection: Avoid Contamination With Normal Flora

June 2012

For specimen selection one must avoid contamination with normal flora.  Appropriate specimens include blood, and we recognize that inclusion of an anaerobic bottle in the blood culture collection will not only increase the recovery of anaerobes but will also increase recovery of facultative organisms, especially Streptococci.  Other appropriate specimens are normally sterile body fluids, including aspirates of pleural and synovial fluids, abscesses or cyst aspirates, surgically obtained tissues, including bone and joints, especially when there is infection of prosthetic joints suspected.  One must whenever possible avoid the use of swabs in collection of specimens for anaerobic culture.  This is because use of swabs, may enable or encourage collection of inappropriate or inadequate specimens and may not be amenable to suitable transport systems.

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Jump to section:

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Anaerobic Bacteria
• Principal Anaerobic Pathogens
• Specimen Selection: Avoid Contamination With Normal Flora
• Inappropriate Specimens
• Collection and Transport
• Anaerobic Transport Vials
• Anaerobic Transporters
• Anaerobic Culture Media
• Primary Culture CO₂ Holding Jar with Flow Meter
• Incubation
• Anaerobic Jars Set Up Using the Anaero-Pack
• Anaerobic Glove Box
• Anaerobe Culture Triage
• Anaerobe Culture Triage (cont.)
• Identification
• Colonial Morphology
• Pigmented Colonies
• Rapid Identification Using Gram Stain
• Identification
• 16S Ribosomal RNA Sequence of Bacteroides fragilis
• Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing
• AST Methods
• Illustration of the Components of the E-test Method
• Susceptibility Testing by E-test
• Anaerobe Antimicrobial Panels
• References
• Special Thanks
• Questions