ABSTRACT
Some knowledge of the existence of anaerobic life fonns was already apparent as early as the late 1800s. The culture ofthese bacteria was promoted by the use of the anaerobic jar by the early 1900s (l). Yet much of the very important knowledge in this area of diagnostic bacteriology and its practical application was realized mainly within the last 25 years or so. An exponential growth of interest and science occurred during the 1970s and 1980s, and although of great relevance to contemporary medicine, the theme of anaerobic bacteriology seemingly has achieved a plateau in the last few years apart from numerous changes in the applied systematics. It is certain that the number of bacteria that are currently recognized and which are currently cultured with existing methods may represent only a fraction of the bacteria that are present in humans even in the nonnal state. Genetic methods have continued to emphasize that there are genomes in existence among nonnal flora samplings that are unaccounted for and thus likely represent previously unrecognized bacteria (2); see also Chapter 6. Anaerobes are good prospects among the latter. This area of diagnostic bacteriology has not been spared from the numerous name changes that have arisen from the advancements in applied systematics (Table 1) (3), and it is conceivable that the study ofanaerobic bacteriology will receive considerable attention once more.
