ABSTRACT
The planning of the anaerobic laboratory should include a consideration not only of the present state-of-the-art, but also allow for future developments. The nomenclature of anaerobic bacteria was one vast quagmire. Identical bacteria were called by several names, and conversely several different bacteria were called by the same name. Experts in the field of anaerobic microbiology realize that the Kirby-Bauer determination of antibiotic susceptibility used for fast growing aerobes is not applicable to anaerobes, especially with respect to the interpretation of the zones of inhibition. Automation of procedures is probably the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of future advances to speed up microbiological analyses. This approach has been used successfully with aerobic analyses, especially of blood and urine, including detection, susceptibility testing, and to some extent identification. Gas-liquid chromatography is used in many laboratories to identify the metabolic end-products of many clinically important anaerobes, and this procedure often shortens the identification process.
