Bilophila wadsworthia is an asaccharolytic, Gram-negative, bile-resistant, catalase-positive bacillus that is often urease positive and able to reduce nitrate to nitrite. Growth is stimulated by taurine, which is a cysteine derivative and major organic solute in humans. Bilophila have been recovered from specimens of patients with perforated appendicitis, otitis external, brain abscesses, soft tissue abscesses, from joint fluid, and from blood. In addition, Bilophila has been isolated from fecal material. This bacterium has been linked in various infections in humans, but it is an anaerobic bacteria with slow growth, making it difficult to cultivate and identify in the laboratory. It is also worth noting that Bilophila has significant resistance to antibiotics traditionally used in hospitals for the treatment of anaerobic infections. These reasons make it necessary to review and analyze the clinical significance of this anaerobic bacteria, to make the correct future diagnoses, and to acquire and report epidemiologic data from Latin-American hospitals on this and other anaerobic infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]