Incidence and isolation of Bacteroides species from clinical material and their sensitivity to antibiotics.

One thousand and sixty-seven strains of anaerobic Gram-negative bacilli were isolated from routine clinical material between January 1971 and December 1972. Most of the strains were isolated from sites allied to the lower intestine and genito-urinary tract. Resistance to tetracycline was present in 39.2% of strains tested. In contrast only one strain was found resistant to clindamycin. It is suggested that the recovery of anaerobes from material sent to the laboratory depends largely on the efficiency of the anaerobic system used.