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Seventeen rectal mucosal biopsy specimens from 11 patients with ulcerative colitis and five biopsy specimens from 5 control patients were studied by tissue immunofluorescence. In all patients with ulcerative colitis, the number of IgG-containing plasma-cells was greatly increased, being highest in those with the most active disease. There was also intense staining of the connective tissue of the rectal mucosa with IgG antisera and a similar staining pattern was seen with the C3 component of complement in these patients. IgA plasma-cells were increased in ten out of seventeen biopsy specimens, and IgM plasma-cells were increased in six out of seventeen specimens. This great increase of IgG plasma-cells may be due to stimulation by bacterial antigens, especially by the strictly anaerobic bacteria, since IgG from the rectal mucosa in ulcerative colitis is known to react strongly with these organisms. The finding of complement deposition in the rectal mucosa suggests that a cytotoxic reaction is occurring and may account for the pathological features, such as ulceration, seen in ulcerative colitis.

Thirty-five patients with a variety of serious infections caused by anaerobic bacteria responded to clindamycin. Cure was achieved in 27 of the 32 patients with pleuropulmonary and intra-abdominal infections. Mean serum concentrations of clindamycin for the 8 h after intramuscular administration of clindamycin in these patients were at least 2.5 times the minimal inhibitory concentration of clindamycin for more than 90% of anaerobes. This experience suggests that clindamycin is an excellent and relatively safe antibiotic for treatment of infection caused by anaerobes when combined with surgery (when indicated) or other antibiotics active against aerobic gram-negative bacilli, if present.

The distribution of cancer of the colon, particularly its infrequency in Japan, its increase among Japanese immigrants to the United States and the high rate of this disease among Americans and most Western Europeans, indicates that environmental factors are of etiologic significance in the development of this disease. Available evidence suggests that this factor is dietary in nature and is likely to be related to dietary fat intake. Studies in metabolic epidemiology have shown a correlation between dietary intake and the makeup of fecal bacteria, and between bile acids and cholesterol metabolism in the feces. A strong association has also been established between the level of anaerobic bacteria, metabolized bile acids, and degraded cholesterol and the risk of colon cancer among different populations. It remains to be shown whether this established association is causative in nature.

One hundred and seventy-one strains of anaerobes were tested for susceptibility to carbenicillin by using agar dilution, broth dilution, and two disk diffusion methods. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) for 67% of 51 strains of Bacteroides fragilis , 7 of 9 strains of Bacteroides melaninogenicus , and all of 8 strains of Eubacterium was 100 μg or less per ml. The MICs of the remaining anaerobes were 50 μg or less per ml. The broth dilution results were felt to be the most accurate of the four methods utilized.

Two pathways are involved in the fermentation of glutamate to acetate, butyrate, carbon dioxide, and ammonia—the methylaspartate and the hydroxyglutarate pathways which are used by Clostridium tetanomorphum and Peptococcus aerogenes , respectively. Although these pathways give rise to the same products, they are easily distinguished by different labeling patterns of the butyrate when [4- 14 C]glutamate is used as substrate. Schmidt degradation of the radioactive butyrate from C. tetanomorphum yielded equally labeled propionate and carbon dioxide, whereas nearly all the radioactivity of the butyrate from P. aerogenes was recovered in the corresponding propionate. This procedure was used as a test for the pathway of glutamate fermentation by 15 strains (9 species) of anaerobic bacteria. The labeling patterns of the butyrate indicate that glutamate is fermented via the methylaspartate pathway by C. tetani, C. cochlearium , and C. saccarobutyricum , and via the hydroxyglutarate pathway by Acidaminococcus fermentans, C. microsporum, Fusobacterium nucleatum , and F. fusiformis . Enzymes specific for each pathway were assayed in crude extracts of the above organisms. 3-Methylaspartase was found only in clostridia which use the methylaspartate pathway, including Clostridium SB4 and C. sticklandii , which probably degrade glutamate to acetate and carbon dioxide by using a second amino acid as hydrogen acceptor. High levels of 2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase were found exclusively in organisms that use the hydroxyglutarate pathway. The data indicate that only two pathways are involved in the fermentation of glutamate by the bacteria analyzed. The methylaspartate pathway appears to be used only by species of Clostridium , whereas the hydroxyglutarate pathway is used by representatives of several genera.

4種の嫌気性菌計9株を用いて, 半流動寒天培地中における発育形態を観察したところ, 単一集落には, compactcolony, diffse colony, feathery colony, tailed colony, などがあり, 集落叢の発育形態には, 雲状, サンゴ状, 幕状, 綿状などが認められた。これらの発育形態と培地成分との関連を明らかにする目的で, Tryptone, Soytone, 寒天, ブドウ糖およびシスチンの濃度を変えて検討したところ, Tryptone, Soytone, ブドウ糖は主として集落の成長に, 寒天, シスチンは主として集落の形態に関与し, これらの成分が微妙に影響し合つて特有な形態を示すことが判明した。これらの形態は, Tryptone 1.5～3.0%, Soytone 0.3～2.0%, 寒天0.07～0.08%, ブドウ糖0.2～0.4%シスチン0.08～0.12%の組成の培地において, 同一形態の再現性がみられた。

Since 1958, experimental plots in an orchard of dwarf apple trees have been kept free from direct vegetative cover either by mowing or by the application of atrazine at an annual rate of 4 kg/ha. Comparative studies show that the atrazine treatments induced significant changes in the microbial population. Although the total numbers of bacteria and fungi were not altered, the anaerobic bacteria, sporeformers and cellulolytic microorganisms were permanently reduced, and the nitrifying, amylolytic and denitrifying microbial groups were temporarily reduced by atrazine. However, the herbicide enhanced numbers of ammonifying and proteolytic organisms temporarily and increased the number of Azotobacter permanently. As a result of the long-term elimination of the direct vegetative cover and the concomitant loss of organic matter in the atrazine-treated soil, the phosphatase, saccharase, β-glucosidase and urease activities of this soil were reduced by 50 per cent or more.

When 1-cm diameter, waterlogged, sandy clay loam soil aggregates were amended with 2% (w/w) cellulose or 2% (w/w) wheat straw, significant C2H2-reduction activity developed whether the aggregates were incubated under aerobic or anaerobic gas phases. The only N2-fixing bacteria which proliferated were anaerobes or facultative anaerobes. Aerobic N2-fixing bacteria did not proliferate in any of the aggregates, even though a few were initially present in the soil. The anaerobic bacteria in aerobically incubated, cellulose-amended aggregates proliferated more slowly than those in the anaerobically incubated aggregates, but eventually produced a higher maximum rate of C2H2-reduction. The activities of the N2-fixing bacteria in straw-amended aggregates were similar under both aerobic and anaerobic gas phases. High amendment levels (20% w/w) altered the soil structure and the requisite anaerobic microsites were not developed as rapidly under aerobic incubation conditions and so the onset of C2H2-reduction activity was delayed.

The minimal inhibitory concentrations of clindamycin and gentamicin alone and in combinations were determined by a microdilution method for 163 aerobic, facultative, and anaerobic clinical isolates. All 77 strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Diplococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes , and anaerobic bacteria (except for three strains of Clostridium ) were inhibited by 1.6 μg or less of clindamycin per ml. Gentamicin did not interfere with the activity of clindamycin within the range of concentrations tested (0.1 to 100 μg/ml); for some strains combinations were synergistic. Sixty-two (94%) of 66 strains of Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were inhibited by 6.2 μg or less of gentamicin per ml. Combinations of clindamycin and gentamicin were indifferent for 29 strains and synergistic for 33 strains. All 20 strains of enterococcus, three strains of Clostridium , three strains of Escherichia coli , and one strain of Proteus rettgeri were resistant to both clindamycin (minimal inhibitory concentration greater than 3.1 μg/ml) and gentamicin (minimal inhibitory concentration greater than 6.2 μg/ml). Combinations of clindamycin and gentamicin were indifferent for 16 and synergistic for 11 of the resistant strains. Except for clindamycin-sensitive isolates, synergy was usually observed only at concentrations of one or both drugs which are not readily obtainable in vivo. Antagonism was never observed.

A research project to assess the value of clinical bacteriology in a dental school has been initiated. The project stresses techniques which should result in routine isolation of obligate anaerobes from oral specimens. A series of acute fluctuant abscesses in the mouth has been studied with the use of anaerobic techniques of isolation and culture combined with current methods for characterization and taxonomy of obligate anaerobes. The data indicate that oral abscesses contain a variety of obligate anaerobes. Information presently available indicating the prevalence of staphylococcus and streptococcus might well be reassessed. A number of the organisms isolated were resistant to a wide variety of antibiotics, including penicillin.

Summary In lambs fed on a semi-synthetic diet containing less than 1 μg Zn/g, deficiency of zinc was associated with parakeratosis of the tongue and with big increases in the numbers of viable aerobic and anaerobic bacteria present on the dorsum. The numbers of bacteria quickly reverted towards normal levels when the lambs were given supplementary zinc. When zinc-deficient sheep were slaughtered, histological lesions in the tongue included degeneration of striated muscle, interstitial fibrosis, thinning of myelin nerve sheaths, abnormal morphology of motor nerve endings and degeneration of arterio-venous shunts in the lamina propria of the tongue.

No review can be all things to all people, the requirements of each reader being unique. In this case, the mission is two-fold; on the one hand, the author is sounding the alarm that the “anaerobes are here;” on the other, he is attempting to focus on the events that led him to this conclusion.

The isolation of anaerobic bacteria from routine wound swabs by three procedures was evaluated. Recovery of anaerobic organisms was doubled by immediate incubation of seeded plates, and the recovery could be further dramatically improved by the use of prereduced media, in conjunction with an anaerobic chamber. Recommendations for the treatment of swabs and cultures for anaerobic investigation are made.

Modified paper chromatography procedures for the analysis of fatty acids produced by anaerobic bacteria are described. Both ethylamine and hydroxylamine derivatives of fatty acids were prepared from inoculated anaerobic culture broth. The derivatives were spotted on chromatography paper and developed with appropriate solvents. Paper chromatography is a valuable alternative to gas liquid chromatography as an ancillary procedure in the identification of anaerobic bacteria in the clinical bacteriology laboratory.

In considerations of susceptibilty testing of bacteria, linear regression has been used to relate minimal inhibitory concentration and zone size. Although lacking in statistical validity, this technique has been used for aerobic bacteria. Reports of anaerobic testing show much greater variation about the regression line; the errors of misclassification have not been analyzed. A bivariate "error rate-bounded" classification scheme is proposed for relating minimal inhibitory concentration and zone size of bacteria. This method requires the following clinical input: (1) specification of breakpoints of susceptibility as determined by minimal inhibitory concentrations and the pharmacology of the antibiotic, (2) determination of the relative importance of two types of errors, false resistant classification and false susceptible classification, and (3) determination of the acceptable rate of error of false classification. Based on this input the classification scheme determines the zone size, which gives the minimal error of misclassification with the known data on zone diameter and minimal inhibitory concentration.

A survey was made of the anaerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria present in piggery waste, digesting piggery waste and domestic anaerobic sludge sludge used to start a piggery waste digester. An influence of the input waste was shown in that streptococci, the predominant facultatively anaerobic bacteria in the piggery waste, were the predominant bacteria in the digesting waste, and they replaced Enterobacter, predominant in the domestic sludge, when a piggery waste digestion had been established from this latter material. Cellulolytic or methanogenic bacteria could not be detected in the piggery waste but populations of these, and other hydrolytic bacteria, became established at different times during the buildup of digestion by gradual addition of piggery waste to water. The bacteria concerned in degradation of the waste constituents were all anaerobes. Production of methane from H2/CO2, formate and butyrate could be detected in mixed cultures from dilutions of digester contents, but the only methanogenic bacterium that could be isolated in pure culture was Methanobacterium formicicum, which uses H2/CO2 or formate only.

SummaryTwo technics for anaerobic culture were compared for their efficiency in isolating anaerobic bacteria from the cecum of the mouse. A conventional method using a broth diluent and blood agar plates incubated in anaerobic jars recovered only 1.1-5.8% of the total number of bacteria present. In contrast, 19.7-33.7% of the total bacterial count was recovered when the specimen was processed by the Hungate technic, which entailed anaerobic collection, dilution in reduced fluid under CO2 and culture in roll tubes. Many of the bacteria isolated in this manner did not grow at all on blood agar plates incubated in anaerobic jars. The data presented indicate that the predominant, strictly anaerobic bacteria of the cecal flora were sensitive to even transient contact with atmospheric oxygen.

1.1. A series of 133 patients with pyometra is reported. 2.2. The clinical groupings and data are presented in tables. 3.3. The incidence of pyometra is higher than the report indicates, since only those patients were reported on whom cultural studies were done. The incidence will increase with the realization that it can be diagnosed only by proving patency of the endocervical canal of the uterus or of the cervical stump. 4.4. Pyometra in this series occurred most commonly in patients who had received irradiation therapy for malignant neoplasms of some part of the uterus. It is also significant that all patients who developed pyometra with untreated malignant neoplasms of the uterus were in the postmenopausal age group. 5.5. The cultural findings in the various clinical groupings are given in table form. The classification of the nonsporulating anaerobic bacteria is discussed. 6.6. The importance of the anaerobic organisms in pyometra is clearly shown. In the 133 patients, 21 negative cultures were reported. In 49 patients anaerobic organisms alone were cultured; in 51 patients mixed aerobic and anaerobic organisms were cultured. In short, in 112 positive cultures for the entire series, 100 cultures showed anaerobic organisms and but 12 cultures showed aerobic organisms alone. 7.7. Twenty-one negative cultures were reported. In 69 patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the cervix there were 11 (15.8 per cent) negative cultures. In 6 patients with adenocarcinoma of the cervix there were no negative cultures. In 17 patients with adenocarcinoma of the endometrium there were 7 (41.7 per cent) negative cultures. In 30 patients with "spontaneous" pyometra due to endocervical stenosis, there were but 3 (10 per cent) negative cultures; 29 of these 30 patients were postmenopausal. 8.8. No patient in this series had pyometra which was due to hormonal therapy. 9.9. No deaths occurred in this series as a result of pyometra. 10.10. Much investigative work must be done before the anaerobic organisms can be classified properly. The response of aerobic organisms to the various chemotherapeutic and antibiotic agents has been well studied. However, the effect of these agents on the bacteria of the nonsporulating anaerobic group is still unsatisfactory and of controversial nature. 11.11. Judgment as to the time after the evacuation of pyometra to use the curette, radium, or x-ray, or to operate, is difficult. Adequately controlled bacteriologic studies should aid in answering some of the problems which pyometra presents to the clinician.

Laboratory equipment and techniques which have been developed for the production of highly reduced media and for the handling and inoculation of large numbers of fastidiously anaerobic bacteria are described. With these techniques over 150 cultural and biochemical characteristics have been routinely determined on several hundred strains of anaerobes with a minimum of effort.

Although dental clinicians are acutely aware of the prevalence of periodontal disease among their own patients, the importance of these conditions as a major public health problem is often overlooked. Some measure of the scope of the prob­ lem is furnished by a 1954 epidemiologi­ cal study1 which disclosed that 84 per cent of the United States population suf­ fers from periodontal disease in one form or another. The typical lesion of gingivitis may be caused by such things as subgingival cal­ culus, deficient brushing and massaging and by abnormal contacts between the teeth. Oxidizing agents have been widely and successfully used as adjuncts in the treat­ ment of a variety of periodontal condi­ tions. Hydrogen peroxide solution, U.S.P., in a 3 per cent solution used as a mouth­ wash has germicidal properties,2 aids in the mechanical removal of debris from inaccessible regions,3 inhibits the growth of anaerobic bacteria,4 aids in the de­ bridement of gingival tissue after scaling and curettage,6 and helps to control necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis.6 Many reports have been published on carbamide peroxide as a useful agent for the treatment of gingival disease.7 10 However, in discussions of the medica­ ments previously available, the impor­ tance of brushing and massage has been overlooked. The proper technic of mas­ sage, step by step, before a mirror has been indicated to be important in the maintenance of a healthy periodontium.11 The advent of a stable carbamide perox­ ide in a paste form12 provides a valuable chemotherapeutic agent, and the neces­ sary brushing and massaging of the gin­ giva is required for its application. When in contact with the saliva of the mouth, oxygen is released. The importance of massage cannot be overemphasized in the successful treatment of gingival inflam­ mation.