Clinical spectrum of bacteroidaceae in a tertiary care hospital.

Members of Bacteroidaceae family are the most commonly isolated anaerobic pathogens in humans. This study summarises our experience of isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of these anaerobes from diverse clinical infections in a tertiary care hospital. Over a period of 5 years, 611 samples were received for anaerobic culture. Of these, 53 specimens yielded 62 anaerobic isolates. Thirty of the 62 isolates (48.4%) belonged to Bacteroidacea family obtained from 29 patients. They comprised of 14 (14/32; 43.7%) Prevotella spp., 13 (13/32; 40.6%) Bacteroides spp., 3 (3/32; 9.3%) Porphyromonas spp and Fusobacterium (2/32; 6.2%). In 14 of 27 patients (48%) the infection was polymicrobial. All the isolated strains were sensitive to metronidazole. This study highlights need for adopting anaerobic culture technique as a routine diagnostic procedure and constant monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility of all anaerobic isolates.