Antibiotic susceptibility of human gut-derived facultative anaerobic bacteria is different under aerobic versus anaerobic test conditions

Abstract

Facultative anaerobes are the most common cause of infections in anoxic parts of the human body, including deep wound, vagina, periodontal pockets, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary tract and lungs. Generally, antibiotic susceptibility tests (AST) for facultative anaerobes are performed under aerobic conditions due to ease of handling and rapid growth. However, variation in susceptibility of facultative anaerobes to antibiotics under aerobic and anaerobic conditions can lead to failure of antibiotic treatment. Our study evaluated the susceptibility of facultative anaerobic microorganisms to antibiotics during growth under anaerobic or aerobic conditions. We compared the resistance patterns of representatives from 15 bacterial genera isolated from the human-gastrointestinal tract against 22 different antibiotics from six classes under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Preliminary results obtained by a disc diffusion method were verified using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) testing. The results demonstrated that 7-strains had a similar pattern of drug resistance under both conditions, while the remaining ten strains had significant differences in resistance patterns between aerobic and anaerobic conditions for at least one antibiotic. We conclude that successful antibiotic therapy for host-associated pathogens requires proper assessment of the oxygen condition of the growth environment and MIC testing of each pathogen under anaerobic and aerobic conditions.