CURRENT ISSUES AND PROBLEMS IN DEALING WITH ANAEROBES IN THE CLINICALLABORATORY

Because of the current concern for health care reform and the demands placed on the clinical microbiology laboratory by decreased resources, questions regarding appropriate work-up of anaerobes remains unresolv ed. Although anaerobes are ubiquitous, the number of anaerobes causing disease is relatively few. This article focuses on the need for isola tion and identification of these anaerobes and emphasizes proper colle ction, culture, and identification techniques. Varying levels of exper tise in isolation and identification of anaerobes are proposed, and th e role of ''rapid'' identification kits in identification of these org anisms is discussed.