Anaerobe Bacterial Culture |
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Anaerobes may be pathogens in many common sites of infection including skin and soft tissue, pleuropulmonary, intra-abdominal, and female genital tract. Anaerobic infections are characterized by suppuration or abscess formation and tissue necrosis. When anaerobes are suspected to be the causative agent of an infection, physicians must specifically request an anaerobic culture. Anaerobic cultures should not be routinely ordered on lesions that can be cured by simple surgical incision and drainage or foreign body removal.
Specimens for anaerobic culture should be collected only from an acceptable site and in such a way as to avoid contamination with normal flora. This is best accomplished by aspiration with a needle and syringe or with tissue or biopsy samples. Swabs are strongly discouraged since they provide a limited quantity of specimen, allow exposure to oxygen that is lethal to anaerobes, and are often contaminated with normal flora. For these reasons, swabs should only be used during surgery and only when aspiration or biopsy is not possible. In the rare instance that a swab must be collected, it should be put into proper anaerobic transport media.
| Infection Source |
Acceptable Specimens |
Pulmonary |
Lung tissue |
Transtracheal aspirate |
Bronchial brushing |
Pleural |
Thoracentesis fluid |
Urinary tract |
Suprapubic bladder aspirate |
Nephrostomy specimen |
Abdomen |
Peritoneal fluid |
CAPD fluid |
Abscess aspirate |
Bile |
Biopsy tissue |
Female genital tract |
Culdoscopy specimen |
Endometrial aspirate |
Abscess aspirate |
IUD for Actinomyces |
Sinus tract or draining wound |
Aspirate by syringe as deeply as possible after surface decontamination |
Surgical specimen from depth of wound or bone lesion |
Curettings and tissue biopsies |
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