BSAVA EDUCATION COMMITTEE COMMISSIONED ARTICLE: Anaerobic bacteria: a cause of infection?

This review article considers the evidence available for a significant role of obligate anaerobes in infections of small animals. The presence of anaerobes in the normal flora and the meaning of the terms aerobe and anaerobe both in relation to the bacterial metabolism and laboratory culture is discussed. The reported findings of anaerobes in clinical veterinary conditions are reviewed. The particular importance of the non-sporing (non-clostridial) anaerobes in traumatic and endogenous infections and the mixed nature, both in terms of different anaerobes and mixed aerobes and anaerobes of such infection are considered. Some experimental evidence for the pathogenicity of obligate anaerobes and their complex role in mixed infections is given. Observations on the use of antibiotics for treatment of suspected anaerobic infections are discussed and the possible implications to laboratory procedures for antibiotic sensitivity testing.