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Anaerobic pleuropulmonary infection

M E Levison1

  • 1Division of Infectious Diseases, MCP/Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19129, USA. ML46@drexel.edu

Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases
|April 30, 2002
PubMed

Insights

Obligate anaerobes cause lung infections in aspirating patients. New drugs show in-vitro activity, aiding empirical treatment for anaerobic pulmonary infections when diagnosis is challenging.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Pulmonology

Background:

  • Obligate anaerobes are key in oropharyngeal flora and cause pleuropulmonary infections in aspirating patients.
  • Culturing and susceptibility testing of these anaerobes present significant challenges in clinical microbiology.
  • Lack of standardized methods and clinical trials complicates diagnosis and treatment of anaerobic pulmonary infections.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the challenges in diagnosing and treating anaerobic pulmonary infections.
  • To highlight the role of in-vitro drug activity in guiding empirical therapy.
  • To discuss the availability of new antimicrobial agents for anaerobic infections.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review of anaerobic microbiology and pulmonary infections.
  • Analysis of in-vitro studies on new drugs against anaerobic bacteria.
  • Discussion of clinical trial limitations and empirical treatment strategies.

Main Results:

  • Obligate anaerobes are difficult to culture and test, leading to empirical treatment decisions.
  • Published in-vitro data on collected clinical isolates guide current therapeutic choices.
  • New antimicrobial agents with demonstrated in-vitro activity against anaerobes are now available.

Conclusions:

  • Diagnosis and treatment of anaerobic pulmonary infections remain challenging due to technical and logistical hurdles.
  • Empirical therapy, guided by in-vitro data, is common.
  • Emerging drugs offer new options for managing these difficult-to-treat infections.

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