Fusobacterium spp were recovered from 7% of anaerobic blood cultures over an 11-year period. Clinical and microbiological features of 40 episodes of Fusobacterium bacteremia were analyzed. There were 32 males and 8 females. The mean age was 55 years. In 24 patients, Fusobacterium was the only blood culture isolate and in l9 patients, the bacteremia was nosocomial. Underlying disorders were present in 28 patients and included alcoholism (7), atheroclerosis (8), COPD (7), AIDS (4), chronic liver disease (4), malignancies (4) and intravenous drug use (3) . The primary foci of infection were the upper (ll) and lower (7) respiratory tract and the gastrointestinal tract (l5). In seven patients, the bacteremia was secondary to instrumentation (endotracheal intubation, oesophagogastroscopy). Clinical features were non specific. The species isolated were: F. nucleatum (17), F. necrophorum (8), F. mortiferum (5), F. gonadiaformans (3), F. varium (3) and Fusobacterium spp (4). Susceptibilities, as determined by the NCCLS agar dilution method, were available on 36 isolates: 35 were susceptible to penicillin, piperacillin, cefoxitin, clindamycin, imipenem and metronidazole. One strain was a beta-lactamase producer. Twenty five patients were cured and 9 deaths appeared directly related to the bacteremia. Metastatic infection occured in one intravenous drug user. Shock and severe underlying disease were associated with a bad prognosis. In our milieu, Fusobacterium bacteremia is uncommon, frequently nosocomial and often associated with gastrointestinal and respiratory tract diseases and/or instrumentation.