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In anaerobic infections, the relationship between clinical failure and antibiotic resistance is difficult to demonstrate, especially in mixed anaerobic-aerobic infections. Single isolates of anaerobes in cases of bacteraemia revealed that treatment failures were due to inappropriate therapy. We review here cases, where the empiric treatment was unsuccessful due to resistance of anaerobic bacteria to the administered agents and where the change of the antibiotic allowed the patients to be cured. Many therapeutic failures could be linked to the lack of timely detection of resistance, including heteroresistance of the anaerobes. Disk diffusion or Etest methodology may be suitable, at least for rapidly growing anaerobes, to detect both resistance and heteroresistance to antibiotics widely used for empirical therapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare no conflict of interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Of 69 clinical isolates of Finegoldia magna tested, 36% presented high-level MICs of erythromycin (>256 μg/ml), harboring erm(A) (n = 20) or erm(B) (n=5). Of nine isolates exhibiting an inducible resistance phenotype to macrolides-lincosamides-streptogramins B, four (44%) were susceptible with a potential risk of treatment failure due to emergence of resistant mutants., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron maybe one of the most adaptable intestinal bacteria due to its complex genome. Known to be an opportunistic pathogenic anaerobe, B. thetaiotaomicron has recently been described as a symbiont with anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, peptide mass finger printing technique was used to identify the stress proteins (maybe anti-stress proteins for the host) extracted from B. thetaiotaomicron grown under nutrient starvation (without heme, blood or bile) prior to be placed in an aerobic solution containing a mild non-ionic detergent derived from cholic acid. We focus here on proteins related to stress, knowing that superoxide dismutase was previously identified in the extract. In parallel, the morphology of the bacterial cells was observed using electronic microscopy before and after the extraction process. The effective antioxidant effect of the extract was evaluated in vitro against hydrogen peroxide. This work highlights the B. thetaiotaomicron ability to produce a large amount of stress proteins and to remain viable during the extraction. Budding vesicles were observed on its cell wall. The extraction process did not exceed 20 h in order to preserve the bacterial viability that decreased significantly after 24 h in preliminary studies. In our experimental conditions, an inhibitory effect of the extract was found against hydrogen peroxide. Animal models of inflammation will later check in vivo if this extract of anti-stress proteins is able to counter the respiratory burst beginning an inflammation process., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In the present study, two pre-analytic processes for mass spectrometric bacterial identification were compared: the time-consuming reference method, chemical extraction, and the direct smear technique directly using cultured colonies without any further preparation. These pre-analytic processes were compared in the identification of a total of 238 strains of anaerobic bacteria representing 34 species. The results showed that 218/238 strains were identified following chemical extraction, 185 identifications (77.7%) were secured to both genus and species [log(score) > 2.0] whereas 33 identifications (14%) were secured to genus only [log(score) between 1.7 and 2.0]. Following direct smear, 207/238 anaerobic bacteria were identified, 158 identifications (66.4%) were secured to both genus and species [log(score) > 2.0] whereas 49 identifications were secured to genus only [log(score) between 1.7 and 2.0]. Twenty strains were not identified [log(score) < 1.7] by MALDI-TOF MS following chemical extraction whereas 31 strains were not identified with the direct smear technique. Although direct smear led to a significant decrease of the log(score) values for the Clostridium genus and the Gram positive anaerobic bacteria (GPAC) group (p < 0.0001, Wilcoxon test), identification to both species and genus were not changed. However these differences were not statistically significant (p = 0.1, Chi square). Therefore, MALDI-TOF MS identification following the direct smear technique appears to both non-inferior to the reference method and relevant for anaerobic bacteria identification., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this report, we review one case of bacteremia infection due to Dialister pneumosintes. The patient was admitted in post-partum with vaginosis and suppurative thrombosis of the ovarian veina. D. pneumosintes was isolated in pure culture from the three blood culture flasks. Identification of this bacterium was difficult and requires the amplification and partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The patients had favorable outcome after antibiotic treatment.