During the period November 1936–November 1937 the vitamin C excreted in the urine by adults and children was investigated in a number of places in Palestine. The pronounced influence of the citrus season (winter and spring) with its greater consumption of citrus fruit was noted in all the population groups investigated. In the summer, however, when the supply of fresh vegetable sources of vitamin C is remarkably poor, much lower, partly subnormal, excretion values are to be found.

The lower average excretion of vitamin C in the urine samples taken from children probably indicate a higher requirement by the growing than by the adult body.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease that affects domestic and wild artiodactyl animals and causes considerable economic losses related to outbreak management, production losses and trade impacts. In Tunisia, the last FMD outbreak took place in 2018–2019. The effectiveness of control measures implemented to control FMD depends, in particular, on the human resources used to implement them. Tunisia has the ultimate objective of obtaining OIE status as ‘FMD-free with vaccination’. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the necessary and available human resources to control FMD outbreaks in Tunisia using emergency vaccination and to assess the gaps that would play a role in the implementation of the strategy. We developed a resources-requirement grid of necessary human resources for the management of the emergency vaccination campaign launched after the identification of a FMD-infected premises in Tunisia. Field surveys, conducted in the 24 governorates of Tunisia, allowed quantifying the available human resources for several categories of skills considered in the resources-requirement grid. For each governorate, we then compared available and necessary human resources to implement vaccination according to eight scenarios mixing generalised or cattle-targeted vaccination and different levels of human resources. The resources-requirement grid included 11 tasks in three groups: management of FMD-infected premises, organisational tasks and vaccination implementation. The available human resources for vaccination-related tasks included veterinarians and technicians from the public sector and appointed private veterinarians. The comparison of available and necessary human resources showed vaccination-related tasks to be the most time-consuming in terms of managing a FMD outbreak. Increasing the available human resources using appointed private veterinarians allowed performing the emergency vaccination of animals in the governorate in due time, especially if vaccination was targeted on cattle. The overall approach was validated by comparing the predicted and observed durations of a vaccination campaign conducted under the same conditions as during the 2014 Tunisian outbreak. This study could provide support to the Tunisian Veterinary Services or to other countries to optimise the management of a FMD outbreak.

Several causes have contributed to bring the problems of infantile mortality into greater prominence during recent years. The increased interest in child-study, the growth of humanitarian feeling, and the rapid decline of the English birth-rate during a period of Imperialist expansion have combined to set a higher value upon infant life. In this connection less is heard of the “survival of the fittest” and the “devastating torrent of babies”; the fear of over-population which induced many to regard a high rate of infantile mortality with complacency has faded before the danger of depopulation, and the so-called doctrines of Malthus have given place to the gospel of Fecundity. To those engaged in the work of preventive medicine the continuance of a high rate of infantile mortality in spite of the great improvements in public health administration of the last thirty years is a problem of special interest. The following table shows that although the general death-rate has steadily declined since the early seventies there has been no corresponding decline in infantile mortality, which in fact has increased during 1886–1901. The comparatively low rates in 1902–3 are explained by the exceptional meteorological conditions prevailing during the summer months:—

The Belgian strategic plan to eliminate measles contains several vaccination strategies including routine immunisation programmes and catch-up campaigns. A new expanded programme on immunisation-based survey (2016) assessed the uptake of the recommended measles–mumps–rubella (MMR) vaccine in three different cohorts: toddlers, adolescents and parents of toddlers. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select 875 toddlers (age 18–24 months) and 1250 adolescents (born in 2000) from 107 municipalities in Flanders. After consent of the parent(s), 746 (85.2%) families of toddlers and 1012 (81.0%) families of adolescents were interviewed at home. Measles vaccination coverage was high at 18–24 months (96.2%) and 81.5% were vaccinated at recommended age. Toddlers who had two siblings or a non-working mother or changed vaccinator were more at risk for not being vaccinated. Coverage of the teenager dose reached 93.5% and was lower in adolescents with educational underachievement or whose mother was part-time working or with a non-Belgian background. Only 56.0% of mothers and 48.3% of fathers remembered having received at least one measles-containing vaccine. Although measles vaccination coverage in toddlers meets the required standards for elimination, administration of the teenager dose of MMR vaccine and parent compliance to the recent measles catch-up campaign in Flanders leave room for improvement.

Over the last 40 years, the dynamics of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in drug users has been affected by the illicit drug market, the health environment including the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic which erupted in the 1980s, and the diffusion of substitution treatment beginning in 1995. The purpose of this literature review is to present the dynamics of HCV infection in drug users in France over the last 40 years. Two prevalence studies of HCV infection in the general population were conducted by the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance in 1994 and 2004 and were the touchstone data sources for this analysis. Hypotheses constructed from the findings of these two studies were examined in light of results reported by multicentre prevalence and incidence studies in drug-user populations. The incidence of HCV infection in drug users in France reached a peak in the late 1980s or early 1990s after a lengthy period of epidemic expansion. Implementation of a risk reduction policy enabled a very significant reduction in the incidence of HCV infection in drug users over the last 20 years, leading to incidence figures which are now 10–15% of the 1990 estimate.

The distribution of antibody levels to Legionella (L.) pneumophila (serotypes 1–7) was compared between subjects who worked near the source of a large outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (n=668) and a population sample of comparable age (n=480). In a previous analysis of these data, it was estimated that 80% of those working near the source were infected with L. pneumophila. However, the estimation procedure implicitly assumes that the probability of infection does not depend on the antibody level of a person before exposure. This is questionable, as antibodies could protect against infection. We have now estimated the minimum value consistent with the data on the number of infected persons. We observed that a minimum of 40% [95% confidence interval (CI) 32–48] of those working near the source and 13% (95% CI 8–18) of those working further away were infected with L. pneumophila. Implications of these findings for design options in future research are discussed.

The aim of this study was to monitor the spatio-temporal spread of influenza incidence in Spain during the 2009 pandemic and the following two influenza seasons 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 using a Bayesian Poisson mixed regression model; and implement this model of geographical analysis in the Spanish Influenza Surveillance System to obtain maps of influenza incidence for every week. In the pandemic wave the maps showed influenza activity spreading from west to east. The 2010–2011 influenza epidemic wave plotted a north-west/south-east pattern of spread. During the 2011–2012 season the spread of influenza was geographically heterogeneous. The most important source of variability in the model is the temporal term. The model of spatio-temporal spread of influenza incidence is a supplementary tool of influenza surveillance in Spain.

The transfer of an R factor from donor E. coli introduced into the rumen of adult sheep to strains of the coliform microflora resident post rumen in the lower gastro-intestinal tract was found to be greatly increased when the animals were subjected to a short period of starvation (ca. 24–48 h). This also resulted in coliform organisms containing the resistance determinants of the R factor being excreted for much longer periods, sometimes for months afterwards. As no antibiotic treatment was given to the animals during these experiments, possession of the R factor should have conferred no selective advantages on the host cells and other plasmids could possibly be transferred similarly in vivo in sheep or other ruminants and perhaps also within the gut of monogastric animals.

1. The bacterial content of the air of the Underground Railways, when the average of all results of the bacteriological investigations is taken, does not numerically compare unfavourably with the outside air of London.

2. The ratio of the number of organisms growing at room temperature appears to be about 14 for railway air to 10 outside air. For those growing at body temperature the ratio is considerably higher, namely 2 to 1 respectively. The mean per litre, for room temperature organisms, is about 9 in railway air, 6·3 in the outside air; for body temperature organisms 4·6 for railway air, 2·2 for outside air.

3. The bacterial content of platform air, except on the City and South London Railway, would appear to be higher than that of carriage air; the total mean for platform air being 52 and for carriage air 42·8 organisms per 5 litres, or a ratio of 16·4 and 13·5 respectively to 10 of the open air. The higher proportion in platform air is generally speaking to be accounted for by the greater amount of draught and dust disturbance.

4. The ratios of the total bacterial content of railway carriage air and carriage and platform air on the six lines to open air are estimated in the following proportions:

In order to obtain knowledge of the fate of tuberculin in the organism the substance was injected into normal animals. After injection, tuberculin rapidly disappears from the vascular system and does not reappear in the urine till after several hours. In the meantime the substance is bound in the organism, probably in the bones and in the liver. Living cells in vitro also have the faculty of binding tuberculin.

Through numerous experiments a difference is demonstrated between the complements of different sera, a fact which strongly supports the theory of the plurality of complements. Evidence is brought forth which points to a difference between tuberculous and non-tuberculous complement.

Tuberculin is highly noxious to the vitality of the white blood corpuscles, and more toxic to corpuscles from tuberculouos organisms than from not-tuberculous organisms. A certain protective power in regard to the toxic action of tuberculin is found in the serum. This power is greater in serum from normal organisms, than in serum from tuberculous organisms.

By means of vital staning a difference is demonstrated between the effects of tuberculin upon the leycocytes from normal and tuberculous animals.

In99, a possible ancestor of In100, is a class 1 integron associated with carbenicillinase (blaPSE) and aminoglycoside resistance genes [aac(6′)-Ib and aadA2]. In99 was present in 8 of 81 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from unrelated patients collected in different years. The strains fell into two clonal groups and exhibited resistance to β-lactams and aminoglycosides.

When fresh animal serum was dropped onto seeded mycoplasma agar plates, inhibition of growth frequently occurred. This effect was dependent on the mycoplasma serotype and on the animal species from which the fresh serum came. This activity of fresh animal serum was heat-labile and would not diffuse through the agar medium. Growth of all the porcine mycoplasma serotypes was inhibited by fresh sheep serum. M. hyorhinis, M. hyopneumoniae, B 3 and the P 45 strains were insensitive to fresh horse serum. The addition of fresh horse serum to specific M. hyorhinis rabbit antiserum-impregnated disks appeared to have a synergistic effect and the combination of M. hyorhinis antiserum-impregnated disk and fresh horse serum always inhibited the growth of M. hyorhinis strains.

The object of this investigation is to gain more precise information concerning the retention of potency of vaccine lymph at those temperatures which are likely to be encountered by lymph after issue from the laboratory and before use by public vaccinators. These temperatures are—broadly speaking—likely to be those of the ice-box (say 5–7° C.) and average room temperature (say 15–16° C.).

1. Coxsackie A6 virus was isolated in January 1963 from the circulating blood of four children in Suva, Fiji, suffering from fever, lymphadenitis and pharyngitis.

2. Nine strains of the same agent were isolated from Aedes (Stegomyia) poly-nesiensis mosquitoes caught over a period of 2 weeks near or in a village situated among mangrove swamps at the mouth of the Rewa river, in January 1963.

3. No virus was isolated from mosquitoes caught in Suva.

4. A serological survey indicated that Coxsackie A6 infections are common and widespread in Fiji.

The clearance of neomycin and kanamycin from the intestines after stopping oral supply has been determined in mice. Both antibiotics, although given in different doses, were excreted in essentially the same way; the clearance being a little faster than logarithmically in both cases. The importance of this observation with regard to isolation and the moment of reconventionalization is discussed.

1. Laboratory rabbits were infected with seventeen different preparations of myxoma virus (this probably represents thirteen strains of which four could be classified as fully virulent and the rest as attenuated, two being markedly so).

2. One hundred and twenty-four wild rabbit carcasses were obtained from a rabbit infestation in the throes of an outbreak of myxomatosis.

3. All the carcasses were examined for the presence or absence of myxoma antigens and antibodies by a modified Ouchterlony gel-diffusion precipition test.

4. As a result of (3), we have concluded that the gel test can provide confirmation of the presence or absence of myxomatosis. It is particularly useful in cases of doubt about the clinical diagnosis. The test can also give a reasonable indication of the number of recovered rabbits in a population and, more important still, it can give an indication of the recovery rate during an outbreak of disease. However, attempts to differentiate between fully virulent and attenuated strains of virus were unsuccessful.

We describe the seasonal variation of acute toxoplasmosis in the United States. Acute toxoplasmic lymphadenopathy (ATL) can be a surrogate of acute toxoplasmosis in patients in whom the date of onset of lymphadenopathy matches the window of acute infection predicted by serological tests performed at a reference laboratory. We used the electronic database of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Toxoplasma Serology Laboratory (PAMF-TSL) (1997–2011) to identify cases of ATL. We tested the uniformity of distribution of ATL cases per month, across the 12 calendar months, using circular statistics uniformity tests. We identified 112 consecutive cases of ATL. The distribution of cases was not uniform across the 12 calendar months. We observed the highest peak of cases in December and a second highest peak in September. Similar months were identified in patients with acute toxoplasmosis in rural areas in France. The results were similar when we performed weighted analyses, weighting for the total number of Toxoplasma gondii IgG tests performed per month in the PAMF-TSL laboratory. This is the largest study to date of the seasonal variation of ATL in the United States. Physicians should advise high-risk individuals to avoid risk factors associated with T. gondii infections especially around those months.

This study was endeavoured to contribute in furthering our understanding of the molecular epidemiology of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by sequencing and analysing the first full-length genome sequences obtained from 48 coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients in five districts in Western Serbia in the period April 2020–July 2020. SARS-CoV-2 sequences in Western Serbia distinguished from the Wuhan sequence in 128 SNPs in total. The phylogenetic structure of local SARS-CoV-2 isolates suggested the existence of at least four distinct groups of SARS-CoV-2 strains in Western Serbia. The first group is the most similar to the strain from Italy. These isolates included two 20A sequences and 15−30 20B sequences that displayed a newly occurring set of four conjoined mutations. The second group is the most similar to the strain from France, carrying two mutations and belonged to 20A clade. The third group is the most similar to the strain from Switzerland carrying four co-occurring mutations and belonging to 20B clade. The fourth group is the most similar to another strain from France, displaying one mutation that gave rise to a single local isolate that belonged to 20A clade.