This work is concerned with the cleaning and disinfection by heat of stainless-steel and polypropylene bedpans, which had been soiled with either a biological contaminant, human serum albumin (HSA) labelled with technetium-99m 99m(Tc), or a bacteriological contaminant, streptococcus faecalis mixed with Tc-labelled HSA. Results of cleaning and disinfection achieved with a Test Machine and those achieved by procedures adopted in eight different wards of a general hospital are reported. Bedpan washers installed in wards were found to be less efficient than the Test Machine, at least partly because of inadequate maintenance. Stainless-steel and polypropylene bedpans gave essentially the same results.

Data from the 1997–2004 Surveys of Prevalent HIV Infections Diagnosed were analysed by three geographical areas of residence and treatment to describe the heterogeneous growth of the HIV epidemic in England and provide projections to 2007. Between 1997 and 2004, the number of diagnosed HIV-infected adults resident in England increased by 163% (14223 to 37459). Within the ‘London environs’ the increase was 360% (742 to 3411), within the rest of England 219% (4417 to 14088) and within London 120% (9064 to 19960). By 2004, the London environs had the largest proportion of infections acquired through heterosexual sex (and in particular women) and the most recently diagnosed population. Projections indicate over half of diagnosed HIV-infected adults will live outside London by 2007. The epidemiology of diagnosed HIV infection within the London environs is likely to be a predictor of future trends in England overall.

In this paper a fatal case of meningitis is reported in which a capsulated Diplococcus of the Neisserian group was isolated from the purulent cerebrospinal fluid. A capsulated Gram-negative Diplococcus growing readily on agar was isolated from the nasopharynx and the cerebrospinal fluid by von Lingelsheim (1906, 1908) and called by him D. mucosus. Similar organisms were also isolated from the nasopharynx by Elser & Huntoon (1909). Cowan (1938) reported two cases operated on for cerebral tumour in which D. mucosus was grown from the cerebrospinal fluid. These strains were regarded by him as contaminants setting up a low-grade infection in a brain which, exposed for operation, offered little resistance to infection. Two cases of meningitis due to a capsulated Diplococcus have been reported by McFarlan (1941) and Bray & Cruickshank (1943); both these patients responded well to sulphapyridine and recovered. Edwards (1944) described a fatal case of meningitis due to an atypical Neisseria which in many respects resembled D. mucosus, although it was not capsulated. The rarity with which capsulated Neisseriae are associated with pathogenicity is considered sufficient justification for reporting the following case.

Between April 1983 and December 1985, 576 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae were isolated in our laboratory from patients attending Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) clinics. Of these, 61 (10·6%) were penicillinase-producing. Studies on these strains by plasmid analysis, auxotyping and serogrouping showed that the predominant type strains harboured the Asian resistance plasmid, were prototrophic, and were of serogroup WII/WIII. About half of the strains, both of the African and Asian type, harboured the transfer plasmid. Strains of serogroup WII/WIII were less sensitive to tetracycline and cefoxitin than serogroup WI strains.

Henle (1889) found that “Creolin”, an emulsion of tar acids, was a more efficient disinfectant than could be explained from observations upon each of its constituents separately, and concluded that the extra efficiency was connected with the emulsified form. Henle's conclusions do not appear to us to be necessarily justified by his observations.

The analysis of an epidemic of influenza in the New Zealand division of the Royal Navy confirms the following hypotheses which were suggested by previous studies of the same and other diseases.

(1) The type of influenza in different places, especially if they are more or less isolated areas, such as islands or ships, tends to assume special characters as regards infectivity, virulence, and clinical type1. In this respect the influenza virus, or viruses, are only following a well-known biological “law,” namely, that isolation tends to encourage the evolution of new varieties and species. A classical example of this “law” is found in Darwin's reference to the fact that each island of the Galapagos Archipelago has its own special flora and fauna—similar to but yet different from that of the other islands.

(2) One wave of influenza, even if of a different type, will confer considerable immunity to a subsequent wave not only on the victims attacked, but also on those who apparently escaped infection during the first wave.

(3) The brunt of the morbidity of influenza (and other infections) is borne by recruits and junior ratings, not because they are, on the whole, younger, but because they have had less time than the senior men to adapt themselves, by means of auto-vaccination, to the bacterial environment of crowded ships or barracks.

The effect of bacterial adaptation to environment is often overlooked. Hence other factors, such as physical fitness, are often given more credit than they deserve as preservers of the public health.

(4) Senior ratings mixed with recruits suffer a higher morbidity from infectious disease than they do under similar circumstances in the absence of recruits. This statement, if true, should have a most important practical bearing on military medical administration. The phenomenon is probably due to increased velocities of infection (due to the higher infectibility of the recruits) breaking down the herd immunity of the senior men.

(5) In this epidemic New Zealanders suffered more from influenza than the British sailors not, as usually supposed, because of the mere fact of being born in New Zealand, but because all the recruits and the bulk of the junior ratings were New Zealanders.

After subcutaneous vaccination of rubella sero-negative children with Wistar RA 27/3 rubella vaccine, haemagglutination-inhibiting antibody titres were compared in sera taken 46 days and 2 years after vaccination. Antibody titres were well maintained in the absence of any known exposure to natural infection.

In 1885, the Dutch vital statistician, Prof. Van Pesch1 drew attention to a peculiarity of the curve of death rates at ages which he first noticed in the Netherlands’ statistics of 1870–79 and subsequently again found in the three following decades.

The question of testing for synergic action of treatments of Vibrion septique infection in mice is considered. Henderson and Gorer's data are used as the basis of the analysis.

Their six experiments are tested for heterogeneity and one experiment is found to be discrepant. This is then removed and only the remaining five used in the later working.

A x2 formula is derived for testing the significance of the evidence for synergic action. Sulphapyridine shows such interaction in effect with both antitoxin and antibacterial serum. These last two show no interaction.

The most efficient design of such experiments is then considered, and it is shown that the death rate in the single treatment tests should be kept at least as high as 90 %, and that whereas the numbers of mice assigned to the single treatment tests should be equal, that assigned to the joint treatment should be 1·5 times as great.

A graphical method for testing the significance of the results is described. These graphs also allow of an opinion being formed as to the number of mice which would be necessary to detect an interaction of given magnitude.

1. A method is described for estimating subcutaneous tissue oxygen and carbon dioxide tensions in man.

2. Measurements were carried out before and at the end of carbon dioxide and oxygen saponin foam baths. These baths decrease the carbon dioxide and increase the oxygen subcutaneous tissue gas tensions. No appreciable differences were found between carbon dioxide and oxygen baths.

3. We conclude that gases do not diffuse through the skin in sufficient quantities to affect the subcutaneous tissue gas tensions.

The incidence of purulent staphylococcal infections at a large Swedish university hospital was followed during 3 years and has been described as an expression of the incidence of hospital infections.

A marked decrease in the relative number of infections was found. The decrease was most evident among infections with ‘80/81’ strains and other antibiotic resistant hospital strains and was parallel in all the departments investigated. This is taken as an evidence for the assumption that the lowering of the amount of staphylococcal infections was brought about by a factor that was active throughout the hospital, probably some hygienic preventive measure.

Green & Mellanby (1928, 1930) were the first to direct attention to a specific relationship between vitamin A deficiency and infection. They studied the occurrence of spontaneous infections in vitamin A-deficient rats and concluded that animals fed on a diet deficient in vitamin A, but complete in all other respects, develop multiple infective lesions and die. Since then vitamin A has become known as the ‘anti-infective’ vitamin.

The problem of the comparative nutritive value of bread made from the various high grade white or “patents” flours and the so-called “standard” meal is of some interest. The inclusion of a considerable portion of the bran in standard bread is claimed to increase largely the nutritive value of the bread. It has been known for many years that wholemeal bread containing the bran particles was especially useful as an article of diet for persons suffering from constipation, the laxative effect being due partly to the mechanical presence of indigestible fibre, partly to the irritation of the intestinal wall by the sharp bran particles causing increased peristalsis. This effect is to some extent lost after prolonged feeding.

Co-agglutination between the somatic agglutinins of B. typhosus and B. paratyphosus B occurs more frequently than between the flagellar agglutinins in the sera of typhoid and paratyphoid B fever cases. These co-agglutinins may develop early or late in the course of the disease.

It is suggested that the agglutinin absorption test is capable of distinguishing whether or not true co-agglutinins have been developed to the flagellar and somatic antigens of B. typhosus or B. paratyphosus B.

In September 2003 a WHO consultation group on vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPV) concluded that in order to prevent future generations of paralytic polio after interruption of transmission of wild poliovirus, the use of trivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV) must be stopped [1]. Another important global policy decision along the road to polio eradication thus became possible – cessation of OPV use at some time after eradication. The question now is not whether OPV must be stopped, but rather when.

The development of immunity in mice to Bordetella pertussis induced by intracerebral, intravenous or intraperitoneal vaccination was analysed in terms of the viable bacteria in the brain after intracerebral challenge, the serum antibodies, and protection against the sublethal infection of the lung that follows intranasal inoculation.

A vaccine introduced intracerebrally was five to ten times more effective than that given intraperitoneally or intravenously, as measured for each route by the amount of vaccine required to protect half the mice against an intracerebral challenge 14 days later (ImD50). Intracorebral vaccination induced higher antibody titres than vaccination by the other two routes. The survival of infected mice given 1–3 ImD50 doses of vaccine intracerebrally 14 days before, followed a pattern similar to that after intraperitoneal or intravenous vaccination with up to 10 ImD50 of vaccine: the numbers of organisms increased for 3 days and then declined. Injection of about four ImD50 of vaccine intracerebrally produced a local immunity, resulting in an immediate kill of challenge organisms given 14 days later. Such an effect following intraperitoneal vaccination was achieved only against challenges with an avirulent strain. It is suggested that better stimulation of circulating antibody and local immunity in the brain together account for the better protection induced by intracerebral vaccine.

Immunity to an intracerebral infection appears therefore to have at least three components, each specific for pertussis. The first, like that induced by intraperitoneal and intravenous vaccination, reaches a maximum in 2 or 3 weeks and is probably an expression of a general response by the animal operating not earlier than 3 days after infection. The second is a local immunity, appearing after the same interval. The third is a short-lived local immunity which has been described by previous workers; it immediately follows the injection intracorebrally of ten times less vaccine than that needed to protect against a challenge 14 days later and lasts only 2–3 days. The second and third types result in immediate sterilization of the infection.

Mice recovering from sublethal brain infection with avirulent organisms were immune to a second infection with a virulent organism, but this was achieved not by the ability to kill the re-infecting organisms immediately on injection into the brain, but only after the 3–4 days lag such as follows intraperitoneal vaccination.

A cluster of Salmonella Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+) infections with indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns was detected in October 2015. Interviews initially identified nut butters, kale, kombucha, chia seeds and nutrition bars as common exposures. Epidemiologic, environmental and traceback investigations were conducted. Thirteen ill people infected with the outbreak strain were identified in 10 states with illness onset during 18 July–22 November 2015. Eight of 10 (80%) ill people reported eating Brand A raw sprouted nut butters. Brand A conducted a voluntary recall. Raw sprouted nut butters are a novel outbreak vehicle, though contaminated raw nuts, nut butters and sprouted seeds have all caused outbreaks previously. Firms producing raw sprouted products, including nut butters, should consider a kill step to reduce the risk of contamination. People at greater risk for foodborne illness may wish to consider avoiding raw products containing raw sprouted ingredients.

A total of 6346 swine sera collected at an abattoir in the city of Obihiro, Hokkaido during the years 1978–87 were tested for the presence of antibodies to swine and human influenza viruses. A high incidence of antibody to A/New Jersey/8/76 (swine type H1N1) virus was observed throughout the 10 years except for the occasional month and a single long period of 15 months. Antibodies to human H3N2 virus in swine appeared to be related to the epidemics of human influenza which occurred in the study area during the years 1980–3, but unrelated to the epidemics during the years 1984–7. A large number of swine were found to be antibody positive to a human H1N1 virus during the period April to June 1964, and a smaller number, during the period November 1986 to June 1987. Both were in relation to human influenza epidemics. However, there were long periods where human H1N1 antibodies in swine could not be found.

The first occurrence of swine influenza in Japan was recognized in 1977, when it was presumed that the disease was introduced via imported swine (Shibata elal. 1978). Further outbreaks of swine influenza and a high prevalence of antibody to the virus in Japanese swine populations have been reported by several workers (Yamane, Sukeno & Ishida, 1978; Sugimura elal. 1981; Ogawa elal. 1983). An outbreak of influenza virus infection due to an H3N2 strain was previously seen in a herd of swine in Osaka, Japan (Sugimura etal. 1975). Later the co-existence of swine (H1N1) and human (H3N2) influenza viruses was confirmed by serological and virological studies on Japanese swine populations (Onta et al. 1978; Sugimura et al. 1980; Arikawa et al. 1982). In a previous report (Miwa et al. 1986), we suggested that the swine became infected with a human H1N1 virus as piglets during an epidemic of influenza which occurred in the human population at the same time. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the changes in the prevalence of antibodies against swine and human influenza viruses in Japanese swine during the past 10 years.

Replication of vaccinia and monkeypox viruses was impeded in the presence of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BUdR) in RL-33 cells derived from rabbit lung tissue. The different degree of inhibition was found among strains of those viruses, in which it was evident that five strains (CV-1, Lister, IHD, Dairen-I and Ikeda) of vaccinia viruses resulted in more reduced yields of infectious virus than four strains (Sen-19, Orang Utan, Copenhagen and Sierra Leone) of monkeypox viruses. There was also strain variation in BUdR sensitivity within vaccinia viruses but not in the case of monkeypox viruses.

Epidemiological data for Toxoplasma gondii regarding malignancy have gained increasing attention; however, the information about T. gondii infection among children with malignant lymphoma (ML) in China is unclear. Therefore, 314 children with lymphoma and 314 healthy children, age- and gender-matched, were recruited to estimate the seroprevalence of T. gondii in the participants and identify the risk factors of infection. Blood samples from all participants were collected and examined for T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies using ELISA. The results showed that the overall seroprevalence of T. gondii antibodies (including IgG and/or IgM) in ML patients and healthy controls was 19.8% and 9.9%, respectively. Contact with the cats, consumption of oysters and history of chemotherapy were estimated to be the risk factors for T. gondii infection in children with lymphoma by multivariable logistic regression analysis, whereas in healthy children, contact with cats and consumption of oysters were the risk factors. Moreover, among various histological types of lymphoma, individuals with NK/T-cell lymphoma, B-small lymphocytic lymphoma, marginal zone B-lymphoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma had a higher seroprevalence than healthy controls (P < 0.05). These findings indicated the high prevalence of T. gondii infection in children with lymphoma, and hence, efforts should be performed to evaluate the effect of the infection further in lymphoma patients.