Bacteremia due to obligate anaerobes following large bowel surgery in a tertiary care hospital in South India.

In view of the rising incidence of Anaerobic bacteremia(AB), the use of anaerobic blood culture bottles have been recommended in addition to the aerobic blood culture bottles. The need to perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing(AST) for anaerobes has become mandatory owing to increasing metronidazole resistance. The frequency of AB following large bowel surgery and the metronidazole susceptibility for members of the Bacteroides fragilis group were determined. The incidence of AB was found to be 16%. Seventeen obligate anaerobes were isolated in total, of which B. fragilis was the most common. Two of twelve isolates of B. fragilis were resistant to metronidazole.