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Editorial Commentary: The Role of Anaerobic Bacteria in Lung Abscess

2005; Oxford University Press; Volume: 40; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/428586

1537-6591

John G. Bartlett,

Amoebic Infections and Treatments

walls of the lung abscesses at autopsy resembled the bacteria noted in the gingival crevice, leading him to postulate that aspiration of oral bacteria was the mechanism of infection. He proceeded to attempt to prove this hypothesis by inoculation of various bacteria from the gingival crevice intratracheally in experimental animals of diverse sorts. No single microbe reproduced this disease, but he was able to produce typical lung abscesses with an inoculum containing 4 microbes that are somewhat vague by current taxonomy but that are thought to have been an anaerobic spirochete, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Peptostreptococcus species, and a fastidious gram-negative anaerobe (possibly Prevotella melaninogenicus). This was one of the first demonstrations of bacterial synergy, and it was also an important milestone in our understanding of lung abscess. At the time of this work, there were no antibiotics. A review of 2114 cases re-