Bacteroides bacteriaemia in surgical patients

Abstract In a general surgical unit, during a 6-year period between June, 1967, and May, 1973, anaerobic bacteriaemia was noted in 23 patients, of whom 4 had Gram-positive clostridial bacteriaemia. Nineteen patients had Gram-negative Bacteroides species in their blood. In these patients the infection appeared to have come from bacteria that were normal commensals of the patients' gastro-intestinal tracts. The use of antibiotics to which Bacteroides species were resistant may have suppressed more invasive bacteria, allowing the selective proliferation of bacteroides.