Obligate anaerobic bacteria found in canine and feline purulent lesions

Abstract

A total of 43 specimens, including 23 abscesses and 20 purulent exudates of dogs and cats was examined bacteriologically. Of these, four specimens contained obligate anaerobes only, 24 specimens facultative anaerobes only, and the remainder (15 specimens) yielded both obligate and facultative anaerobes. Colony-forming units of the obligate anaerobes ranged from 10 3 to 10 8/g and of the facultative anaerobes from 10 2 to 10 8/g. Of the anaerobic isolates, Bacteroides was the genus most frequently detected (13 isolates), followed by Fusobacterium (11), Peptostreptococcus (four), Peptococcus(two), Clostridium (one) and Propionibacterium (one). Within the genera Bacteroides and Fusobacterium, isolates of B. fragilis subsp. fragilis and F. nucleatum were most dominant.