Clostridium spp. isolated from surgical specimens

: In the present study, the isolation rate of Clostridium spp. from surgical specimens and its antimicrobial susceptibilities were examined. Last 24 years, Clostridium spp. was isolated from 65 (1.8%) out of 3,644 specimens from the surgical abdominal infections. Clostridium spp. was most frequently isolated from secondary peritonitis such as perforated peritonitis, followed by hepato-biliary tract infection. There were 59 cases (90.8%) of mixed infection with Clostridium spp. and other bacteria. The rate of mixed infection with Bacteroides spp. (23.6%) was highest, followed by Escherichia coli (19.7%), other aerobic Gram-negative rods and Enterococcus spp. Although Clostridium perfringens was highly sensitive to penicillins, cephems and carbapenems, a small number of Clostridium spp. other than Clostridium perfringens were resistant to cephems, erythromycin clindamycin and fosfomycin, respectively.