Airborne non-sporeforming anaerobic bacteria

Abstract

A large proportion of postoperative infections after clean surgery are thought to be exogenous. For aerobic bacteria different routes of transmission have been thoroughly studied. Airborne infection has been considered very important in infections after total hip replacement (Charnley, 1972). Anaerobic non-sporing bacteria have been found in deep late infections after total hip replacement (Kamme et al. 1974; Schwan et al. 1977; Petrini, Nord & Welin-Berger, 1978). However, infections caused by anaerobic bacteria have been considered endogenous, and little is known about the routes of transmission for these bacteria.