Treatment of anaerobic infections: an overview.

Increasing resistance on the part of anaerobes to several antimicrobial agents has been a problem in recent years. Mechanisms of resistance include production of inactivating enzymes such as beta-lactamases, plasmid-mediated transferable resistance and failure of the drug to penetrate the bacterial cell. Fortunately, availability of several new agents permits us to treat anaerobic infections effectively. However, it is now desirable to do routine in vitro susceptibility testing of anaerobes, especially in seriously ill patients. Newly introduced drugs and others still undergoing study are compared with the standard agents.