The role of anaerobic bacteria in some extra-abdominal infections including person-to-person contamination.

With the possible exception of campylobacter enteritis, anaerobic infections are not transmitted from person to person, and do not present problems of hospital cross-infection. There are a number of situations, however, in which non-clostridial anaerobic infections may develop as result of person to person contamination of a compromised "recipient" with normal anaerobic bacterial flora from a healthy "donor". Some of these are briefly discussed.