Are gastric contents usually regarded as sterile?

Abstract

See the original case report by Monticelli, clinical commentary by Bennell and response to this correspondence by Monticelli.

Response to: ‘Are gastric contents usually regarded as sterile?’

“…) and even for small monogastric herbivores such as rabbits, whose gastric pH ranges between 1 and 1.9 (Fann and O'Rourke ). However, as Dr Freeman pointed out, in horses the pH of the gastric content ranges between 5.4 and 1.8 depending on the anatomical region (Al Jassim and Andrews ; Freeman ) and may therefore be considerably less acidic than in other species; as a result, it is reasonable to assume that the equine gastric content is not necessarily sterile as bacterial growth is possible in it. In support of this last statement, it is worth mentioning that bacterial infections of the respiratory system secondary to the aspiration of large volumes of gastric content with pH higher than 2.5 have been reported in human patients (DiBardino and Wunderink ).…”