Enterobacteria are more resistant to nalidixic acid than the majority of other Gram-negative organisms isolated from river water, so allowing their selection on MacConkey agar containing nalidixic acid. Selection is further improved by anaerobic incubation which, with nalidixic acid, virtually eliminates oxidase-positive strains such as Pseudomonas or Aeromonas.

The variously coloured patches appearing on the surface of chilled beef are caused by fungi. Amongst these, Cladosporium herbarum, producing black spots, is the only fungus that has become specially adapted for flourishing on such an unusual substratum, and may in consequence be expected to continue and even increase in quantity on its new matrix, unless stringent measures are adopted. This fungus is not pathogenic, and the only effect caused by its presence is the unsightly appearance of the meat and consequent deterioration in value. If extensive, the meat may be rendered unsaleable.

The beef is infected with the “black spot” fungus before, it is shipped, and to arrest the continuance of this infection special measures should be taken, with the object of exterminating the fungus, which in its specialised form can only occur in the vicinity of the establishment where meat is prepared for shipment.

1. The incidence of infectious hepatitis calculated from official notifications fluctuated between 5·7 and 11·4 per 10,000 during the years 1949–57, while reports of the Workers' Sick Fund indicated a rate three to four times greater. The highest rates were between the ages 1 and 9, two-thirds of the cases being under 10. Mortality was very low.

2. Highest attack rates were seen under conditions of crowding, i.e. in agricultural schools, communal settlements and new immigrant towns. This fact, together with the winter peak of incidence, suggests a contact-respiratory form of spread.

3. Immigrants, regardless of country, showed particular susceptibility during their first year or two in Israel. In the long run there was no difference in attack rate between immigrants from Western and from Middle Eastern countries, in spite of the known endemicity of the disease in the Middle East. In communities such as those from Yemen and North Africa, with large families and with, on the whole, a lower economic status, the mean age at onset was significantly younger. Among the non-Jewish population, the incidence was lower than expected due partly to under-reporting and partly, perhaps, to a mild form of the disease in the very young.

A method is presented with which the mechanical cleaning effect of flushing disinfectors can be estimated independently of the thermal disinfecting effect of the hot flushing water. This makes it possible to specify the demands to be placed on the disinfecting effect of flushing with water of 85°C or more.

Bacillus stearothermophilus spores suspended in faeces were used as indicators because of their non-sensitivity to the hot-water temperature. Their elimination by flushing could thus be attributed to the mechanical effect of the water and not to the disinfecting effect of the temperature. A simple bacteriological technique was used, and the elimination factor (EF) was calculated as the ratio of the number of micro-organisms in the contamination before and after flushing. By using flushing water below 50°C for 130 s the EF on a bedpan was about 104–106. The effect of flushing with water of the same temperature for only half that time was somewhat weaker and when the temperature was raised to 85 °C after half the flushing time the effect was somewhat stronger.

It can be presumed that the conventional disinfecting phase with hot (85 °C) water for about 45 s in the commonly used flushing units could be substantially shortened and the costs of their use thereby reduced.

Cysticercosis, a leading cause of acquired epilepsy in developing countries, has been controlled or eradicated in industrialized countries. This paradigm has recently been challenged, with human neurocysticercosis (NCC) being increasingly diagnosed in these countries. In order to assess the NCC burden in Portugal, a retrospective study on NCC hospitalizations (2006–2013) was conducted based on the national database on hospital morbidity: 357 hospitalized cases were detected. NCC was most frequent in the following age groups: 20–64 years (n = 197, 55·2%) >64 years (n = 111, 31·1%), and <20 years (n = 49, 13·7%). In the Norte and Centro regions cases tended to be older than in the Lisboa and Vale do Tejo Region. The results raise concerns for imported and autochthonous disease, suggesting the Lisboa and Vale do Tejo Region, due to its higher frequency of cases at younger ages, as a priority for research and intervention, and further suggest that NCC should be under surveillance (notifiable). The National Observatory of Cysticercosis and Taeniasis has been established and will define NCC cases as well as monitoring and surveillance.

In a molecular investigation into the outbreak of HIV in Glenochil during the first 6 months of 1993, we previously demonstrated that 13 out of the 14 HIV positive inmates were infected with a virtually identical strain, and discounted 2 others as potential sources. Here we investigate a further 8 potential contacts and 4 potential sources which were identified in the companion paper [1]. We were able to examine viral sequence from all but one of these 12 and results have revealed them to be distinct both from each other and the original 14. Thus, despite an intensive follow-up investigation, we have been unable to identify any further HIV infections that might have been part of the 1993 outbreak. It is possible that persons who were infected at that time remain undetected; however this and the companion report strongly suggest that if this were the case the likely numbers would be few.

In a preceding paper1, details were given of an investigation which demonstrated that an epidemic of milk-borne enteritis occurring in Aberdeen in 1919 was due to infection of milk with dysentery bacilli of the Flexner type. It was further stated that the epidemiological and clinical features of antecedent epidemics of milk-borne diarrhoea were such as to suggest that the former epidemics were probably also dysenteric infections, although bacteriological investigation had failed to identify the causative organisms.

(1) Worli village is badly infested with rats, practically all M. rattus.

(2) Persistent trapping for one year appeared to reduce the rat population to approximately one quarter of the original number.

(3) Three cases of plague which occurred in the village were investigated. It is probable that these three cases all contracted the infection outside the village.

(4) In two instances there is evidence which points to infection having been introduced in the clothing or persons of people, and of this spreading in one instance to a guinea-pig, and in the other instance to rats.

A new adsorbent, microporous polyethylene chopped fibre, was produced from a high density polyethylene. This can adsorb lipopolysaccharides (LPS) linearly up to 2 h, and showed the highest capacity to adsorb LPS when compared with two other polyethylene-based adsorbents and a polystyrene-based adsorbent. More than twice as much orange II and 4-nitroquinoline N oxide were adsorbed in the new adsorbent as was LPS. The adsorption isotherm of the new adsorbent for LPS was of Ln type, the correlation between adsorption and concentration of solute was proportional; whereas orange II and 4-nitroquinoline N oxide were of L type (greater adsorption than Ln type); tetrachloroethylene adsorption was of S type, less than Ln type. Adsorption of LPS to the new adsorbent increased when temperature rose, whereas adsorption of orange II and 4-nitroquinoline N oxide decreased. These data suggest that the binding of LPS to the new adsorbent is a hydrophobic interaction, whereas the binding of both orange II and 4-nitroquinoline N oxide is not. The new adsorbent has a greater potential for the removal of endotoxin from tap water than other commercially available adsorbents such as charcoal and Amberlite XAD-2.

Two instances are described of sera showing abnormal anti-complementary power. The amount of complement fixed by the serum was in the one case about six times, in the other about four times, greater than is normal. Examination of subsequent specimens from the patients showed that this inhibitory character was transient only. No feature common to the two cases was found to which the abnormality could be attributed. Attention is drawn to the rarity of this condition, but it is of practical importance in that such sera would be regarded as giving a positive Wassermann reaction if their behaviour in the absence of antigen were not observed.

Noroviruses (NoVs) are major causal agents of acute gastroenteritis in humans. NoV GII.4 is the predominant genotype globally. However, uncommon and minor types of NoVs are consistently detected and some have been shown to dominate over GII.4. Therefore, the prevalence of dominant and uncommon NoVs makes the identification of these viruses important for the prediction and prevention of pandemics. In this study, the full-genome sequence of a NoV (strain JW) detected in Korea was extensively characterized. The full-length genome was 7510 nucleotides long, and phylogenetic analysis based on the whole-genome sequences, including open reading frame (ORF)1, ORF2, and ORF3, indicated that it belonged to the GII.21 genotype. Strain JW showed maximum identity with strain YO284; however, comparison of the amino acid sequence of ORF2, which functions as an antigen, showed substitutions in several amino acids. GII.21 is not a prevalent epidemiological agent of acute gastroenteritis in humans, but it is consistently found in gastroenteritis patients from several countries. The present study provides the first full-genome sequence analysis of NoV GII.21 isolated from a patient in Korea. Our findings provide not only valuable genome information but also data for epidemiology studies, epidemic prevention, and vaccine development strategies.

It will, perhaps, be interesting to students of epidemiology to compare with the delicate and complex reactions of an experimental animal population the grosser reactions of a human population. In Australia the materials have been singularly favourable for a demographical study.

A single-tube confirmatory test that allows a result to be obtained in 4 h has been developed from the single-tube confirmatory test recommended by the Joint Committee of the Public Health Laboratory Service and the Standing Committee of Analysts (PHLS/SCA, 1980). A variety of river, lake and reservoir samples were examined for the presence of E. coli using either most probable number (MPN) or membrane filtration (MF) technique, and the PHLS/SCA recommended confirmatory medium (LTMB) was evaluated against traditional methods. To improve the performance of LTMB, the medium was modified and this modified medium when used in 0·1 ml volumes and incubated for 4 h at 44°C provided 99% agreement with traditional methods.

The role of anthropometric status on dengue is uncertain. We investigated the relations between anthropometric characteristics (height, body mass index and waist circumference (WC)) and two dengue outcomes, seropositivity and hospitalisation, in a cross-sectional study of 2038 children (aged 2–15 years) and 408 adults (aged 18–72 years) from Bucaramanga, Colombia. Anthropometric variables were standardised by age and sex in children. Seropositivity was determined through immunoglobulin G antibodies; past hospitalisation for dengue was self-reported. We modelled the prevalence of each outcome by levels of anthropometric exposures using generalised estimating equations with restricted cubic splines. In children, dengue seropositivity was 60.8%; 9.9% of seropositive children reported prior hospitalisation for dengue. WC was positively associated with seropositivity in girls (90th vs. 10th percentile adjusted prevalence ratio (APR) = 1.19; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03–1.36). Among adults, dengue seropositivity was 95.1%; 8.1% of seropositive adults reported past hospitalisation. Height was inversely associated with seropositivity (APR = 0.90; 95% CI 0.83–0.99) and with hospitalisation history (APR = 0.19; 95% CI 0.04–0.79). WC was inversely associated with seropositivity (APR = 0.89; 95% CI 0.81–0.98). We conclude that anthropometry correlates with a history of dengue, but could not determine causation. Prospective studies are warranted to enhance causal inference on these questions.

Sera of 132 selected patients belonging to stages II, III or IV of clinical trachoma have been tested by CF-test against the ether-soluble, group-specific Bedsonia antigen, as well as by CF-inhibition test against an indicator system of the same group-reactive specificity.

On the basis of the serological results obtained, the following conclusions have been advanced:

Trachoma patients do not develop group-specific CF-inhibiting antibodies in their sera.

The group-reactive (anti-Bedsonia) CF-titres found in sera of trachoma patients represent residual titres developed in response to past infections with agents other than trachoma. There is no satisfactory explanation for the fact that in trachoma patients neither CF, nor CF-inhibiting antibodies develop against the group-reactive Bedsonia antigen, which is known to be produced also by the virus of trachoma.

Statistical analyses revealed that, in the group of stage IV trachomas, the mean values of the anti-Bedsonia CF-titres were significantly higher than those found in the groups of stage II or III, as well as that the factors responsible for that difference must be other than the duration of the trachoma.

A hypothesis was advanced to explain the appearance of the highest group specific mean-titre revealed by the group of stage IV cases.

Desiccates of Salmonella ndolo dried in sodium glutamate have been exposed to 100° C. in air or in vacuo; in the presence of wet or dry P2O5; and with desiccant maintained at either 25° or 100° C. Of the eight treatments thus compared, rapid killing occurred where the desiccate was heated in vacuo and in the presence of dry P2O5 maintained at 100° C. There was little difference among the death-rates of the other seven treatments. Sublimation of the P2O6 with resultant attack on the desiccate would appear to be responsible for the rapid killing in the treatment where it was observed.

1. The annual number of notified cases of erysipelas is approximately 17,000, and assuming complete notification of the disease the general case fatality is approximately 6 per cent.

2. The death-rate, deaths in terms of the population, varies according to age, being highest at the beginning and end of life and at a minimum between the age of 5 and 10 years. The mortality of males is identical with that of females up to age 25, but is afterwards in excess.

3. The disease has in recent years a well-marked seasonal incidence—a winter and spring excess with a summer defect. In this respect it resembles scarlet and puerperal fevers and, although its seasonal incidence has changed in the course of time, the alteration has not been nearly so pronounced as that for scarlet fever.

4. The incidence is highly correlated with overcrowded conditions, the correlation coefficient being in some periods as high as + 0·83 in the divisions of London and + 0·70 in the sanitary districts of Glasgow.

5. The morbidity from erysipelas is fairly well correlated in time with that from scarlet fever and erysipelas, but in London, in the urban and in the rural districts of England and Wales, the spacial correlation is very small. On the other hand, in Glasgow the spacial correlation between the incidence of erysipelas and that of scarlet fever is highly negative, −0·718 ±0·109, whereas between erysipelas and puerperal fever the association is positive, + 0·689±0·109 during the period 1903–8, but these values were much reduced when the partial coefficients were calculated.

Using a stochastic model, we assess the risk of importation-induced local transmission chains in locations seeing few or no local transmissions and evaluate the role of quarantine in the mitigation of this risk. We find that the rate of importations plays a critical role in determining the risk that case importations lead to local transmission chains, more so than local transmission characteristics, i.e. strength of social distancing measures (NPI). The latter influences the severity of the outbreaks when they do take place. Quarantine after arrival in a location is an efficacious way to reduce the rate of importations. Locations that see no or low-level local transmission should ensure that the rate of importations remains low. A high level of compliance with post-arrival quarantine followed by testing achieves this objective with less of an impact than travel restrictions or bans.

During the years 1903 and 1904 while engaged upon an investigation of the micro-organisms present in saliva, I had frequent occasion to make a quantitative bacteriological examination of this material. The object then in view was to define the bacteria that are most numerous in the mouth, so as to see if they could be applied to detect particulate pollution of air by material derived from the upper respiratory passages in a way similar to that in which B. coli is used to detect and measure excremental pollution of water. While certain streptocoeci were found to provide the index in question, particularly S. salivarius (which is constantly present to the extent of 10 to 100 millions per cubic centimetre of normal saliva) it was observed that among other bacteria present in the cultures were certain gram-negative cocci which frequently exceeded 100,000 per c.c. of the saliva of normal individuals.

Until recently there has been a general impression among a large proportion of the local medical faculty in Jerusalem that enteric fever was very uncommon and that typhus fever was practically unknown. As we are now basing our diagnosis of malaria increasingly upon the discovery of malarial parasites in the blood, we find that while on the one hand many of the most severe malarial infections, especially those with subtertian parasites, have little or no pyrexia, on the other hand, many cases which we should have called “ remittent malaria” or “malignant malaria” or “typho-malaria” in years gone by, are proving to be of other origin. A case of remittent pyrexia which does not yield in three, or at the outside five, days to efficient dosing with quinine is not in our experience a pure malarial infection.