ABSTRACT
Clinicians are becoming more aware and concerned about anaerobic bacterial infections as more is learned about these anaerobic bacteria. Decisions will be needed on an individual basis for many of the clinically important anaerobes, especially those that are resistant to antibiotics normally used in the treatment of patients with anaerobic infections. The sum total of these individual decisions will indicate the extent of the anaerobic culturing necessary for each laboratory situation. There are several practical factors related to anaerobic culturing which should be taken into account. Some of these, such as time spent on the analysis, will be influenced substantially by the techniques chosen and the intended extent of examination of the anaerobic specimens, but the performance of any anaerobic culturing at all with entail certain of these factors. The cost of the laboratory both as a capital investment and as a continuing outlay must be calculated realistically.
