{"id":1861,"date":"2013-08-12T10:38:25","date_gmt":"2013-08-11T21:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=1861"},"modified":"2013-08-13T09:54:49","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T20:54:49","slug":"should-anaerobes-be-cultured-from-superficial-swabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=1861","title":{"rendered":"“Should anaerobes be cultured from superficial swabs?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anaerobic culture has always been difficult in a diagnostic bacteriology laboratory. In the early days\u00a0 of bacteriology labs anaerobic culture was very difficult if not impossible, so it just wasn\u2019t done.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photograph<\/a>
Photograph taken by Nathan Reading<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then came along anaerobic jars and anaerobic cabinets where the oxygen could be removed from the environment surrounding the agar plate. This led to an “explosion” in anaerobic culture in many different types of samples.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now the reality is starting to sink home… We are still not that good at recovering anaerobes.<\/span> This is not particularly the laboratory\u2019s fault. It is just very difficult to mimic the anaerobic conditions of\u00a0certain parts of the body right from when the bacteria are taken from the patient until they are growing in an anaerobic environment in the laboratory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition there are areas of the body such as the GI tract, vagina, oropharynx\u00a0which contain lots of anaerobes anyway, so culturing anaerobes from these areas means nothing at all in terms of pathogenicity.<\/span><\/p>\n

So back to the question: Should superficial swabs be cultured for anaerobes?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My gut feeling here is that we are not helping the patient by culturing superficial swabs for anaerobes because:<\/span><\/p>\n