FUSOBACTERIA - NEW TAXONOMY AND RELATED DISEASES

Fusobacteria are anaerobic gram-negative bacilli. Since the first repo rts in the late nineteenth century, various names have been applied to these organisms, sometimes with the same name being applied to differ ent species. More recently, not only have there been changes to the no menclature, but also attempts to differentiate between species which a re believed to be either pathogenic or commensal or both. Because of t heir asaccharolytic nature, and a general paucity of positive results in routine biochemical tests, laboratory identification of the fusobac teria has been difficult. However, the application of novel molecular biological techniques to taxonomy has established a number of new spec ies, together with the subspeciation of Fusobacterium necrophorum and F. nucleatum, and provided new methods for identification. The involve ment of fusobacteria in a wide spectrum of human infections causing ti ssue necrosis and septicaemia has long been recognised, and, more rece ntly, their importance in intra-amniotic infections, premature labour and tropical ulcers has been reported.