Anaerobes isolated from infectious skin diseases

Anaerobic bacteria isolated from clinical specimens at our clinic from Janu ary 1994 to June 1998 were analysed. Anaerobes were usually isolated from s econdary infections due to eczema/dermatitis. The majority of anaerobes ide ntified were Peptostreptococcus spp., followed by Propionibacterium spp. an d Prevotella spp. Among the Peptostreptococcus spp., P. magnus was the spec ies most frequently isolated, followed by P. assaccharolyticus and P. prevo tii. Pure or predominant growth of anaerobes was seen for each of the two P . prevotti and two Prevotella spp., strains, and for each of the single P, magnus and Propionibacterium spp. strains isolated. The presence of aerobic as well as anaerobic bacteria is important for choosing the antimicrobial agents to be used. Furthermore, Peptostreptococcus spp. showed high suscept ibility to benzylpenicillin, ampicillin, piperacillin and minocycline, Prop ionibacterium spp. showed high susceptibility to all six antimicrobial agen ts tested, while Prevotella spp. and Bacteroides spp. showed low susceptibi lities to all tested antimicrobial agents, except minocycline. Prevotella s pp. was also susceptible to piperacillin.