The enormous increase in the number of children* eating their mid-day dinners at school canteens came at a time when enlargement of school buildings was impossible and when equipment was difficult to obtain. The following report on meals served in nine canteens illustrates the success that has been achieved in providing adequate meals in spite of great difficulties of preparation and service. The schools were chosen to represent different conditions of environment and type of canteen. Sample meals were analysed and an attempt was made to assess the home food of the children.

During the H1N1 outbreak of 1977/8, the virus was isolated in embryonated eggs from 59 out of 76 patients (78%) with the serologically confirmed infection. A similar isolation frequency has been achieved during a period of six H3N2 outbreaks since 1972/3. The H1N1 strains were isolated less frequently from late specimens (collected 4–6 days from the onset of illness) and more often only in the second passage compared with the H3N2 viruses. The new H1N1 strains resembled those prevalent in the 1950s with respect to their ability to agglutinate erythrocytes of certain laboratory animals and to be eluted from these, and thus differed from the H3N2 viruses.

A test is described for assessing the sanitizing effect of napkin treatment products on naturally urine-wetted and faecally-contaminated napkins. This test defines in-use conditions which closely resemble typical domestic situations. One napkin treatment product (‘Napisan’), tested at two different concentrations and with challenges of different numbers of babies' napkins, performed satisfactorily under the conditions used.

During the period 1923–29 inclusive nearly six thousand samples of milk were tested at Wye for both total bacterial count and also keeping quality. An examination of the results shows that on the average the afternoon milks showed nine hours less keeping quality than morning milks of the same total bacterial count, see Table I. The age of the milk on testing for total bacterial count (reckoned from the time of milking) is 27–29 hours for morning milks and 20–24 hours for afternoon milks.

We examined and described colonization of MRSA in the anterior nares and throat from 184 community-recruited injection drug users. Thirty-seven (20%) were positive for MRSA: most (34, 92%) were carriers in the nares; while only three (8%) were carriers detected by throat swabs alone. The majority (29, 78%) of MRSA isolates were PVL positive.

Antibodies neutralizing adenovirus type 5 were found in all of 50 pairs (100%) of sera from patients with acute icteric infectious hepatitis. The incidence in sera from the general population was 57%. No differences in mean titre or in proportion of positive sera were found in the same sera tested for complement-fixing antibodies to cytomegalovirus and for antibodies to rubella virus haemagglutinin. The results can be interpreted as supporting the involvement, either direct or indirect, of adenovirus in the aetiology of infectious hepatitis; but could also be due to a non-specific anamnestic enhancement of the production of antibody to adenovirus, or to coincidental infection with adenovirus and the agent of infectious hepatitis.

The present notes have been written in connection with official correspondence regarding the prophylactic inoculation against plague and the study of this and other health problems in India.

In the first place cultures of the nitroso-bacterium were developed in inorganic solutions. These carried to a 5th dilution exhibited practically a pure culture of this species.

Secondly, cultures of the nitroso-bacterium were inoculated into solutions containing small quantities of organic matter. In these they were able to oxidise the ammonia present. It was found that a culture developing in the presence of small quantities of organic matter was better able to oxidise the ammonia in higher percentages of organic matter than a culture taken directly from an inorganic solution.

In growing this species on plates silica jelly has the disadvantage of being difficult to prepare. It was 18 months before I obtained a satisfactory plate. This jelly grows the nitroso-bacterium well, but other species can also develop colonies on it. Ammonia agar also grows the species, as shown by the oxidation of the ammonia, and the colonies assume a characteristic form.

As to beef broth agar and gelatine, these media grew colonies of a micro-organism similiar to the nitroso-bacterium from oxidised ammonia cultures. Pieces of these plates containing such colonies in pure culture frequently oxidised ammonia in solutions. On the other hand pieces of such plates showing no colonies never produced any oxidations of the ammonia. Furthermore the single colonies from silica and ammonia agar plates, which oxidised the ammonia in the media into which they were sub-cultured, grew well on beef broth agar and gelatine.

From the above results I have come to the following conclusions:

(1) That the nitroso-bacterium grows well on any ordinary medium.

(2) That the supposed parallel organism is no other than the nitroso-bacterium itself.

(3) That in the presence of large percentages of organic matter the nitroso-bacterium, although growing very profusely, loses for a time the power of converting ammonia into a nitrite.

Young adult mice were inoculated intravenously with strains JB or Peter C of Mycoplasma pulmonis. A few were inoculated intranasally with strain JB. This strain but not Peter C was isolated for 50 days or more from the urines of more than half of the mice. Those of strains TO, C3H and CBA, but not CFLP, were susceptible. Recovery of mycoplasmas was intermittent and sometimes the numbers isolated varied within individual mice and between mice of a particular strain, ranging from 5 × 101 to <5 × 107 colour-changing units/ml. Fifty serial passes of M. pulmonis, strain JB, in mycoplasmal medium resulted in attenuation, the organisms after inoculation of TO mice not being recovered from the urine and excretion not being stimulated by treating the mice with progesterone. At autopsy, the organisms of early passage were usually but not invariably isolated from the kidneys of mice that had been urinary excretors. About half of the latter had no renal histopathological changes. The others had usually minimal renal perivascular lymphocytic infiltrates but occasionally more widespread inflammatory changes. The findings may have relevance to the spread of mycoplasmal infection within mouse colonies and suggest that an association between such infection and nephritis in other species, including man, should be sought more closely.

1. A total of 499 rural and 437 urban Bantu school children were examined for their diphtheria carrier rate and Schick immunity.

2. Clinical diphtheria amongst the rural and urban Bantu was also investigated.

3. The virulent C. diphtheriae carrier rate was found to be 3·2% in the rural children and 1·8% in the urban with virulent/avirulent ratios of 1: 1·1 and 1: 2·5 respectively.

4. The Schick-positive rate in children aged 6–17 years was found to be 8·0% in rural children and 13·7 % in urban.

5. Clinical diphtheria was rarely encountered under rural conditions, but was more common in urban natives.

6. The case mortality rate in eighty-nine clinical cases was 14·4%.

7. 53% of the clinical cases occurred in the 0-5 years age group.

8. 89% of the strains recovered belonged to the mitis type. No intermediate strains were encountered.

9. The reason for the infrequency of clinical diphtheria amongst the Bantu is discussed and various theories are reviewed.

10. It is concluded that the infrequency of clinical diphtheria is partly due to the environment, but that there is also a racial factor. It is suggested that the racial factor lies in an ability to produce antitoxin quickly. There is not sufficient evidence in this investigation to show whether the racial factor is genetic, but in view of Turbott's work amongst the Maoris it is suggested that the racial factor in immunity to diphtheria may be genetic amongst the Bantu also.

I have pleasure in acknowledging the continued interest of Dr E. H. Cluver, Director, and Dr G. Buchanan, Deputy-Director, of the South African Institute for Medical Research in the progress of this work. I also wish to acknowledge gratefully the help given me by Dr Prestwick, Dr Miller and Dr Xuma at Alexandra Township. I am indebted to the Administration, and in particular to Dr J. W. Stirling, Principal Medical Officer of Bechuanaland Protectorate Government, for permission to carry out the investigation at Kanye. To Dr Marcus of the Seventh Day Adventist Mission, Kanye, I am deeply indebted for help and hospitality, and to Chief Bathoën who assisted me in making contact with the requisite number of school children at Kanye. My thanks are also due to the Mother Superior and Sisters of the Holy Cross Mission, Alexandra Township, and the many Bantu school teachers who gave me access to the children in their charge. Mr Barnes (S.A.I.M.R.) very kindly carried out the statistical tests of Tables 1 and 2. The travelling expenses involved in this work were defrayed by a grant from the National Research Board.

The way in which rats and mice eat whole grains of wheat, barley, oats and maize has been studied.

Rats (Rattus norvegicus and R. rattus) hold grains with the long axis parallel to that of the body and eat the germ end of the grain in preference to the rest.

Mice (Mus musculus) hold grains with the long axis at right angles to that of the body and attack first the cheeks of all grains except maize, of which only the germ and scutellum are eaten.

It is suggested that texture is in the main responsible for the selection of a particular part of a grain.

Among 469 US military veterans with an Escherichia coli clinical isolate (2012–2013), we explored healthcare and non-healthcare risk factors for having E. coli sequence type 131 and its H30 subclone (ST131-H30). Overall, 66 (14%) isolates were ST131; 51 (77%) of these were ST131-H30. After adjustment for healthcare-associated factors, ST131 remained positively associated with medical lines and nursing home residence. After adjustment for environmental factors, ST131 remained associated with wild animal contact (positive), meat consumption (negative) and pet cat exposure (negative). Thus, ST131 was associated predominantly with healthcare-associated exposures, while non-ST131 E. coli were associated with some environmental exposures.

Data on the possibility of transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during the provision of chronic haemodialysis, which often entails many person-to-person contacts, are lacking. We report a follow-up of the in-centre contacts of three positive chronic haemodialysis patients. Under strict preventive measures, only one patient out of 21 patient-contacts and 29 personnel-contacts tested positive within 2 weeks after the last contact. This patient, case #3, most likely became infected during unprotected, organised group transportation to the dialysis centre.

1. The primary aim of the experiment was to find out if certain combinations of container and gas tube give a greater proportion of positive results than others (with the same strength of inoculation) and if possible to elucidate the causes of any differences between combinations.

The earlier results indicated that the best combination was a 7 × 1 ½ in. test-tube with a 4 × ¾ in. gas tube. Later experiments failed to maintain this preference but did show a definite disadvantage in using a very small gas tube. Whether this is due to the absolute sinallness of the gas tube or the smallness of its volume relative to the total amount of liquid used cannot be decided, for the latter was the same in all combinations. This was the only shape or sizefactor that was definitely influential on the evidence of these experiments. Yet if size of gas tube is intrinsically important the absence of reactions with acid but no gas is puzzling.

Attempts to break down the points involved in changes in shape and size of gas tube and container into a number of simple factors showed that several considerations might be involved, too many to cover in one experimental lay-out; but by including extreme combinations it was hoped that some indication might be obtained of the more important factors. With the new and successful combination of 7 × 1½ in. test-tube with 4 × ¾ in. gas tube, the gas tube holds 22% of the total volume of medium plus inoculum, the same proportion as the standard 6 × ⅝ in. test-tifbe and in. gas tube. This seems to be in support of standard practice if it is relative volumes that are important.

2. The analysis of plate counts shows that the opacity method, with the strain employed, gives complete control of the population and the three methods of assessing the plate count were in good agreement with one another.

The χ2 values were as a rule subnormal. This result excludes the possibility of any lack of control of the population in any one set of plates, but the reason for the subnormality is of some interest. It may plausibly be attributed to the factor of competition among developing colonies for the nutrient medium available so that the chance of development of a colony is smaller when a large number of others are present than when there are only a few. A toxic emanation from a colony which excluded the formation of another colony within a certain distance of it would have the same effect.

3. In the main experiment the percentage of positive tubes was about half (20% as against 45%) that to be expected from the plate counts on the usual Poisson hypothesis; or looking at the matter the other way the mean number of organisms per tube (0·22) deduced from the percentage of positives was about half the 0·5 expected from the plate counts. We have found no reason for this and in two subsequent experiments the agreement was satisfactory.

4. No difference was found between 2 × ⅜ and If in. gas tubes with a 6 × ⅝ in. test-tube or between rimmed and rimless gas tubes.

The stock diet for rats and mice, diet 41 cubed, can be rendered sterile to broth by autoclaving at 15 lb./sq. in. for 20 min. without impairment of the nutritive value for breeding mice.

Hantaviruses are endemic in the Balkans, particularly in Serbia, where sporadic cases and/or outbreaks of hantaviral human disease have been reported repeatedly, and evidenced serologically. Here, we present genetic detection of Dobrava-Belgrade virus (DOBV) hantaviral sequences in wild rodents trapped in central Serbia. All the animals were pre-screened serologically by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) test and only those with a positive finding of hantaviral antigens were further tested by polymerase chain reaction. Of the total of 104 trapped animals, 20 were found to be IF positive and of those three were positive for hantaviral RNA: one Microtus arvalis for Tula virus, and one each of Apodemus agrarius and Glis glis for DOBV. Phylogenetic analysis of the obtained sequences implies putative DOBV spillover infection of A. agrarius and G. glis from Apodemus flavicollis. However, future investigations should help to identify the most common natural host and geographical distribution of DOBV in its reservoir hosts in Serbia.

The direct complement fixation test was performed to follow the antibody response in chickens infected with avian infectious bronchitis virus. Concentrated allantoic fluid (4 units) was used as an antigen and allowed to react with serially diluted antiserum in the presence of two complete units of guinea-pig complement for 3 hr. at 4°C. and ½ hr. at 37°C. before the addition of sensitized cells. Serum was unheated and used either fresh or within one month of storage at −30°C. Individual birds showed a rise and fall of complement-fixing antibody both after primary and secondary inoculations. The complement-fixing antibody was detected as early as the seventh day after primary inoculation. The highest complement fixation titre (1/32 to 1/64) was recorded from 14 to 21 days after inoculation with a subsequent gradual decline.

The results of the direct complement fixation tests have been correlated with the serum neutralization test. The neutralizing antibodies usually appeared by the 14th day but were not detected at a significant titre until the 21st day after primary inoculation. Serum neutralizing antibodies were still present at high titres even after 7 weeks of infection but the complement-fixing antibodies had disappeared by that time.

Further India has been affected by plague to a small extent in comparison to the Indian Empire. Some considerable interest therefore attaches to the comparatively unimportant local outbreaks which occur, from time to time, in the Malay Peninsula. It is generally very difficult to explain the reason for their limitation and to determine, with any degree of accuracy, the source of the infection. Kelanthan, a small but populous and fairly healthy Native Malay State, situated in geographical position between 4° 45′ and 6° 25′ lat. N., and 101° 30′ and 102° 40′ long. E., has only been exploited by European enterprise during the last seven or eight years. The State seems hitherto to have escaped from plague. The Kelantan Malays in fact, so late as 1905, looked upon plague as a new disease and, for want of a better name, then referred to it as the “penyakit leher” or “neck sickness.” Numerous deaths from this so-called “neck sickness” were reported by the natives of the interior to have occurred at some remote villages in the month of May 1905. The illness appeared from the clinical descriptions given by the Malays at the time to have been bubonic plague. It was not thought necessary however by the Kelantan Government to take any special precautions to prevent its spread, and the disease disappeared of its own accord in a few months' time.

Typing techniques are laboratory methods used in outbreak management to investigate the degree to which microbes found within an outbreak are related. Knowledge about relational patterns between microbes benefits outbreak management, but inevitably also tells us something about the relational patterns of the people hosting them. Since the technique is often used without explicit consent of all individuals involved, this may raise ethical questions. The aim of this study was to unravel the complex ethical deliberation of professionals over the use of such techniques. We organised group discussions (n = 3) with Dutch outbreak managers (n = 23). The topic list was based on previously identified ethical issues and discussions were analysed for recurrent themes. We found that outbreak managers first and foremost reflect on the balance of individual harm with public health benefit. This key question was approached by way of discussing four more specific ethical themes: (1) justification of governmental intervention, (2) responsibility to prevent infections, (3) scientific uncertainty and (4) legal consequences. The themes found in this study, rephrased into accessible questions, represent the shared ethical understanding of professionals and can help to articulate the ethical dimensions of using molecular science in response to infectious disease outbreaks.