Clinical and Epidemiologic Characteristics of Anaerobic Bacteria Originating from Blood Cultures: A Five-Year Retrospective Study.

Authors

Yaqin Peng, Jiamin Qin, Lu Bai, Lihong Bai, Xiaowen Jiang, Huiting Li, Kang Liao, Shuai Wang, Penghao Guo

Published in

Infection and drug resistance. Volume 19. Pages 611452. Epub Jul 14, 2026.

Abstract

With the rise of anaerobic bacteremia and resistance to anaerobes for commonly used agents, the resistance patterns of many anaerobes have changed significantly among different geographic areas and medical facilities. This study investigated the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of anaerobic bacteremia for therapeutic optimization at the local level.
This retrospective observational study included all positive blood cultures (BC) from 2020 to 2024. For patients with anaerobic bacteria originating from BCs, clinical and microbiological data were collected.
In total, 239 anaerobic strains were isolated from 223 patients. Among BC-positive bacteria, the proportion of anaerobes accounted for 4.4% (239/5450), with a gradual increase from 3.0% in 2020 to 6.1% in 2024. The most common anaerobes were Bacteroides fragilis (34.7%) and Cutibacterium acnes (20.5%). The resistance rates of gram-negative anaerobes to penicillin, imipenem, and meropenem were 94.4%, 21.1%, and 35.2%, respectively, which were much higher than those of gram-positive anaerobes (16.7%, 0%, 0%). Among the 223 cases, abdominal disorders were the most frequent underlying condition (54.7%). In the empirical antibiotic therapy, 94.6% of the patients received β-lactam antibiotics, and the infection symptoms improved in 74.9% of the patients. For Bacteroides spp. bacteremia, the improvement rate in patients treated with carbapenems and β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations was 78.1% and 40.0%, respectively.
The study presents valuable data for monitoring and improving anaerobic bacteremia treatment in Southern of China.

PMID:
42472227
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 19 Jul 2026.

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