Update on Pan-American research on anaerobes: the situation in Argentina.

The study of anaerobic bacteria became important in Argentina when the first outbreak of botulism was reported in Mendoza in 1922. In the 1970s, the emphasis was on the development of methods to obtain suitable samples for isolation and identification of anaerobic bacteria. In 1985, a working group belonging to the Argentine Association of Microbiology was organized to study anaerobic bacteria and infections. Last year, I became involved with the immunologic, microbiological, and epidemiological features of periodontitis. Other investigators in our country are studying Clostridium difficile, Campylobacter species, and Helicobacter species as well as lactobacilli, Propionibacterium species (as probiotics to protect the gastrointestinal tracts of children), anaerobic veterinary infections, food contamination by anaerobes, and biotechnological applications of anaerobes.