Problems of identification in clinical microbiology exemplified by pig bite wound infections

Our experience from attempts to identify bacteria isolated from boar bite/g ore wounds is the background for a discussion of identification problems. S ome organisms, although not very common or well-known, can be identified wh en using commercial kits or conventional methods, provided they are suffici ently characterized, as exemplified by Pasteurella aerogenes isolated from cases 1 and 2. Some organisms may be wrong ly identified, or not identified , by both commercial kits and conventional methods, unless seen by experien ced microbiologists with knowledge of the original literature. This is exem plified by case 3, in which the final identification result was Bisgaard's taxon 15. Sometimes isolates cannot be identified even in reference laborat ories and by using available identification tables and databases. In such c ases, the organism involved may turn out to belong to a previously undescri bed taxon. This is illustrated by the strains isolated from cases 4 and 5.