Uncommonly encountered, motile, anaerobic gram-negative bacilli associated with infection

Motile, anaerobic gram-negative bacilli belonging to the genera Butyrivibrio, Succinimonas, Succinivibrio, Anaerovibrio, Wolinella, Campylobacter, Desulfovibrio, Selenomonas, and Anaerobiospirillum are being recognized in clinical specimens with increasing frequency. Over a 12.5-year period at the VA Wadsworth Medical Center, 13 clinical specimens yielded one of these organisms. Six isolates were recovered from infected wounds, five from respiratory tract specimens obtained from patients with anaerobic pleuropulmonary infection, and two from peritoneal fluid of patients with intraabdominal infection. The distribution of isolates among the genera was as follows: Wolinella, five; Selenomonas, three; unidentifiable motile gram-negative bacilli, two; Desulfovibrio vulgaris, one; Campylobacter concisus, one; and Succinimonas, one. Our experience provides the first case reports of infection involving the last two organisms mentioned. Clinical features of the infections caused by these motile anaerobes were studied, and the current medical literature on such infections was reviewed.