Outbreaks of myxomatosis during the winter or spring have coincided with the establishment of the European rabbit flea in the Mallee region. The severity of these outbreaks has varied from causing complete suppression of the normal spring increase in rabbit numbers to being completely ineffective in a year in which late spring rains allowed rabbit breeding to extend into the early summer.

In 1973 and 1974 effective spring myxomatosis caused heavy mortality in kittens before they emerged from the warrens. The age of the population increased as the result of few young rabbits coming into the population and of the lessened stress on old rabbits in a low summer-autumn population. This effect was reversed in the late-breeding year, 1976, when flea numbers were apparently too low to maintain a spring outbreak and rabbit numbers increased rapidly.

In almost all investigations relating to ventilation of inhabited buildings determinations of the carbonic acid present in the air are essential. The method in common use is that of Pettenkofer, or some modification of it. This method has, however, the disadvantage that the determinations necessitate the carrying to and from the laboratory of large bottles, and take a considerable time. To overcome these drawbacks several methods capable of being conveniently applied on the spot have been devised, but their accuracy is hardly sufficient for practical purposes, hence they have not come into general use.

Methods for demonstrating antibody to wart virus by complement fixation and passive haemagglutination tests are described and compared with the precipitin test of Almeida & Goffe (1965). The results reveal the much greater sensitivity of the passive haemagglutination method, particularly in the detection of the immunoglobulin M class of antibody. Both complement-fixing and precipitating antibody were detected in sera from patients whose warts had undergone a spontaneous resolution.

The presence of antibody to wart virus was demonstrated in sera from persons who had had warts up to 10 years previously, and in a few cases from those who thought they had never had warts.

The antigenic identity of virus from hand warts and plantar warts of the simple and mosaic types was revealed, and some evidence was obtained for similar identity of the virus from genital warts.

The purpose of surveys of amoebae or other organisms is the estimation of the carrier rate in a population, that is, of the proportion of persons who carry a given parasite. As a rule, the tests do not infallibly detect the presence of the organism in a known carrier. Thus simple estimation from a single examination of each member of a sample is not applicable.

Sera from 50 patients with culture-proven Campylobacter gastroenteritis were examined for the presence of antibodies to Legionella pneumophila. Ten patients (20%) had a positive titre (≥16) as measured by indirect immunofluorescence. Antibodies were detected in only 1 of 36 acute sera but in 10 of 14 (71%) sera obtained more than 10 days after the onset of symptoms. All positive sera contained specific IgM antibodies but specific IgG or IgA could not be detected in any sample. No legionella antibodies could be detected in sera from 42 similar patients with salmonella gastroenteritis. These results were shown to be due to serological cross-reaction between L. pneumophila and Campylobacter.

1. Diphtheria toxin-antitoxin mixtures induce a higher immunity in guinea-pigs than sub-lethal doses of toxin; one injection of the mixture being sufficient to produce an immunity lasting in some cases for a period of over two years, as shown by the passive immunity conferred on the offspring.

2. The highest immunity is produced by toxin-antitoxin mixtures containing the most uncombined toxoid.

3. The active immunity of the mother is transferred passively to the offspring.

4. The passive immunity thus transferred usually disappears at the end of two months after birth, and only in rare instances has been recongnised after three months.

5. Immunity is mainly transmitted in utero, and only to a slight extent during lactation.

6. Young bred from does that have been used for a single routine antitoxin test may be able to tolerate 14 times the does of diphtheria toxin fatal for a normal guinea-pig.

(1) It is impossible to distinguish the lesions of melioidosis from those of glanders by means of inspection with the naked eye or even with the microscope.

(2) The symptoms and course of the two diseases are similar. Melioidosis generally runs a more acute course.

(3) The mallein test was applied in a case of chronic human melioidosis and gave a positive reaction. The mallein was obtained from Java.

(4) The blood of this chronic case agglutinated the Muktesar and Java strains of B. mallei to full titre and the Minett strain to 10 per cent, of this amount. One of these strains (Muktesar) absorbed the agglutinins for the homologous bacillus.

(5) There are very few horses in the Federated Malay States. Melioidosis is primarily a disease of rodents. All attempts to infect horses have been unsuccessful.

(6) Melioidosis broke out spontaneously among the rabbits, guinea-pigs and rats at the Institute for Medical Research in 1913. The animals became infected through eating contaminated food.

(7) Cases of infection in wild rats and in a domestic cat have occurred far away from this laboratory and independently of it.

(8) Rabbits, guinea-pigs and rats have been infected experimentally, by feeding, by subcutaneous inoculation, by scarification and by the application of infective material to the nasal mucosa.

(9) B. whitmori, whose growth in cultures occur in two forms, a commoner corrugated form and a mucoid form which gives origin to the corrugated type.

(10) B. whitmori differs from B. mallei in the following particulars. It is actively motile. It forms a corrugated growth on glycerine agar, a white opaque growth on ordinary agar and a pellicle on the surface of broth. It grows more rapidly than B. mallei, and it liquefies gelatine in a few days.

(11) B. whitmori resembles B. mallei in the following particulars. The morphology of the organisms is similar. Young cultures of the mucoid form are indistinguishable from B. mallei, by inspection. The growth of the mucoid form on potato is similar. The action on milk and carbohydrates differs in degree only. Both organisms produce Strauss's reaction in guinea-pigs.

(12) Five strains of B. mallei were compared with fourteen strains of B. whitmori. The cultures of B. mallei comprised three from the National Collection at the Lister Institute, one from Muktesar and one from Java. The cultures of B. whitmori had been isolated, some from human cases of melioidosis and some from animals which had acquired the disease naturally.

(13) The serological reactions of these organisms, namely agglutination, absorption and complement-fixation tests, showed that the cultures of B. whitmori were a homogeneous group, but the five strains of B. mallei were sharply divided into two sub-groups by their serological reactions. One sub-group includes the Muktesar and Java strains; the other comprises the three strains from the National Collection (Minett, Egypt and A.).

(14) The first sub-group of B. mallei is very closely related to B. whitmori. The serological reactions of the strain from Muktesar are almost identical with those of B. whitmori.

(15) The three strains of B. mallei from the National Collection, which form the second sub-group, are only distantly related to the Muktesar sub group and to B. whitmori.

1. Human and guinea-pig sperms are susceptible to the most diverse chemicals to almost the same degree.

2. There exists a substance in human semen which protects both human and guinea-pig sperms against certain chemicals, especially sodium oleate, orthovanillin and potassium borotartrate.

3. When perfectly fresh human semen is not available, the spermicidal powers of substances may be tested by using guinea-pig sperms suspended in human semen which has been kept cool.

1. The food intakes of sixty-three women of the English middle class have been studied by the individual method and compared with those of men which were described in a previous paper.

2. The average calorie consumption was 2187 per day. Although it is not suggested that this is the optimum intake, it would appear from these results that the “man value” of a woman is 0·7, and not 0·8 as is usually supposed. The individual calorie consumptions varied from 1453 to 3110 per day.

3. The average daily protein intake was 67 g., and no subject was eating more than 90 g.

4. Fat and carbohydrate contributed almost equally to the calorie value of the diet. The proportion of total calories derived from fat (42·7 per cent.) is higher than any previously recorded figures in Europe or America.

5. The average amount of calcium in the diets was 0·63 g. per day. Fourteen individuals were having less than 0·5 g., and one only 0·23 g.

6. The mean intakes of total and available phosphorus were 1·32 and 1·09 g. respectively.

7. A study has been carried out on six women, whose husbands were unemployed. Their intake of all dietary constituents, except carbohydrate, were considerably lower than were found for the women of the middle class.

Acknowledgments. The authors wish to thank Miss E. E. Franklin for her help with the calculations, Miss A. Cameron for her co-operation with regard to the unemployed, and all the subjects, without whose support the investigation would never have been carried out. One of us (E. M. W.) is indebted to the Medical Eesearch Council for a part-time grant.

Muir and Browning (1909) were the first to show that alexin is retained by the filter when fresh serum is passed through a Berkefeld candle. Several filtrations are generally required to remove all traces of the alexic activity, although when a fresh candle is employed for each filtration, the third or fourth filtrate is usually devoid of alexic power (Schmidt, 1914). It is not established whether or not the failure of later filtrates to haemolyse sensitised erythrocytes results from the removal by the filter of some one or of all of the known components of alexin from the serum. We have, therefore, studied the effect of Berkefeld filtration upon the alexic activity of fresh human serum with respect to the thermolabile elements, and the thermostable third and fourth components (Whitehead, Gordon and Wormall, 1925; Gordon, Whitehead and Wormall, 1926).

The action of air containing nitrogen peroxide upon flour, in quantities up to 300 c.c. of nitrogen peroxide to one kilogramme of flour, may be summarised as follows:—

I. The golden-yellow tint of the flour is destroyed. Immediately after bleaching no difference in tint due to excess of the bleaching agent could be observed with Lovibond's tintometer, but on keeping for several days the more highly bleached samples became decidedly yellow, while those treated with 30 to 100 c.c. of nitrogen peroxide per kilogramme became still whiter, the maximum of bleaching effect being attained within these limits.

II. The amount of nitrous acid or nitrites present in a freshly bleached flour is approximately proportional to the amount of nitrogen peroxide employed, and corresponds to about 30% of the total nitrogen absorbed, rising to 40% in the more highly bleached samples. After the lapse of several days, the proportion of nitrites present decreases considerably in the higher concentrations, but remains very nearly the same in the more slightly bleached samples.

III. Approximately 60% of the total nitrogen introduced as nitrogen peroxide into the flour during bleaching can be recovered as ammonia a short time after bleaching by reducing the aqueous extract of the flour with a copper-zinc couple, and may be assumed to be present in the flour as nitric and nitrous acids or as nitrates and nitrites. After keeping the bleached flour for some days the amount of nitric acid extracted with cold water decreases. Experiments with pure glutenin and gliadin indicated that in certain circumstances nitric acid may be withdrawn from solution or “adsorbed” by these proteins.

IV. In highly bleached flour a considerable increase in the amounts of soluble proteins and soluble carbohydrates takes place. If one kilogramme of flour is bleached with 300 c.c. of nitrogen peroxide, the amount of soluble nitrogen is doubled. This appears to be due almost entirely to the solubility of gliadin in nitric acid of certain concentrations. The simultaneous increase of soluble carbohydrates would seem to point to an intimate relationship between the gliadin and certain carbohydrates in flour.

V. If highly bleached flour is allowed to stand for some time after bleaching, the oil undergoes very considerable alteration and acquires the characteristics of an oxidised oil. About 6 to 7% of the nitrogen introduced as nitrogen peroxide during bleaching is absorbed by the oil.

VI. The absorption of nitrogen peroxide by flour does not appear to be accompanied by the production of free nitrogen, nor was any evidence obtained of the formation of diazo-compounds.

VII. Sodium nitrite was found to exert no inhibitory action on the digestion of soluble starch by saliva, but the rate of digestion was greatly retarded if the starch had been previously treated with nitrogen peroxide gas. Bleaching was found to exercise an inhibitory effect on the salivary digestion of flour.

Investigations of the biological properties of tick-borne encephalitis viruses immediately after isolation from naturally infected Ixodes persulcatus from Western Siberia has revealed their different pathogenicity for monkeys and mice. Strains highly pathogenic for mice on extraneural inoculation and for rhesus monkeys on intracerebral inoculation have been isolated, but also strains with a low extraneural pathogenicity for mice and a complete non-pathogenicity or a mild pathogenicity for monkeys on intracerebral inoculation.

The viruses have been classified into three main groups by their virulence for mice and monkeys, and their ability to grow in tissue culture at 40° C. and the findings are summarized in Table 6. Group I included viruses highly virulent for mice by any route of inoculation, which caused fatal paralytic disease in monkeys, and which grew well in chick embryo culture at 40° C.

Group II strains also had a high virulence for mice, but in monkeys caused milder disease with a peculiar clinical course indicative of primary damage to the cerebellum. About half of the infected monkeys recovered completely or with mild sequelae (ataxia, pareses of the limbs). This group grew moderately well in chick embryo cultures at 40° C. Groups I and III differed essentially in their virulence for mice by subcutaneous inoculation, and virulence for monkeys decreased distinctly with transition from group I to group III. Group III strains showed a lower reproduction rate at 40° C. In chick embryo culture than group I. Groups I and II showed good correlation between extraneural pathogenicity for mice, pathogenicity for monkeys by IC inoculation, and growth rate in chick embryo cultures at 40° C.

Group I strains were isolated chiefly from foci with a high TBE morbidity and the strains of groups II and III in foci with sporadic cases. It is, however, highly probable that in any tick-borne encephalitis focus several variant strains of differing virulence exist.

Recent experience of vaccinating volunteers with naturally attenuated group III strains suggests that safe and effective live vaccines can be developed against tick-borne encephalitis. Vaccines against many other arbovirus diseases can probably also be derived from naturally occurring strains of virus isolated from arthropods in areas of low disease but high infection rate. This approach looks more promising than the usual approach of attempting to develop attenuated strains from highly virulent strains.

A number of outbreaks of food poisoning attributed to Bacillus cereus have been reported recently and all have been associated with cooked rice usually from Chinese restaurants and ‘take-away’ shops.

Tests were made to assess the heat resistance of B. cereus spores in aqueous suspension, the growth of the organism in boiled rice stored at temperatures in the range 4–55° C., and the effect of cooking and storage on the growth of the organism in boiled and fried rice. The spores of B. cereus survived cooking and were capable of germination and outgrowth. The optimum temperature for growth in boiled rice was between 30° and 37° C. and growth also occurred during storage at 15° and 43° C.

To prevent further outbreaks it is suggested that rice should be boiled in smaller quantities on several occasions during the day, thereby reducing the storage time before frying. After boiling the rice should either be kept hot (> 63° C.) or cooled quickly and transferred to a refrigerator within 2 hr. of cooking. Boiled or fried rice must not be stored under warm conditions especially in the range 15–50° C.

A watery extract of lathyrus peas and various salts isolated from them exert a marked action on the brain and spinal cord.

The salts are organic and inorganic phosphoric acid compounds, all of them having an essentially similar action, but differing in toxicity and in their local irritating effect.

Moderate doses cause torpor and depression, larger doses clonic-tonic spasms.

The action is probably a direct one and not indirect through causing a drop in the blood calcium.

Sera of 1255 individuals from Novi Sad, varying in age from <1 month to 69 years, have been tested for neutralization antibodies to Herpes simplex virus type 1.

The eight newborns tested and 97% of the 507 adults were positive, with titres ranging from 1/4 to 1/256. The titres in newborns were significantly lower than the titres in adults.

After birth the maternal antibodies declined rapidly and 94% of infants at the age of >6 months and <2 years were negative.

After the first year infants in Novi Sad start to acquire herpes-neutralizing antibodies actively, reaching a 50% incidence of positives between the 2nd and 3rd year of age.

Age-specific incidence rates of herpes positives found in Novi Sad have been compared with those reported from Edinburgh, Freiburg i. Br. and Louisiana. Possible influences of several circumstances upon the incidence rate of positives detected by the neutralization test are discussed.

Ninety-seven groups of five-membrane pock counts from 115 titrations of vaccinia virus preparations were examined in an attempt to identify the statistical distribution followed by such counts, and to obtain an estimate of the overall coefficient of variation of the technique.

It was found that the distribution of counts was neither Poissonian nor normal, and that the count variances ‘wandered’ so extensively that no valid estimate of the overall coefficient of variation was possible. Nor was it possible to assess the intrinsic reproducibility of the test, although it is empirically a useful one.

A survey of the β-lactamases responsible for ampicillin resistance in urinary Escherichia coli isolated in central Scotland has been performed. The TEM-1 β-lactamase was found to be most prevalent occurring in 88.2% of ampicillin-resistant isolates tested. Forty-six percent of the TEM-1 producing strains were able to transfer this resistance to E. coli J62–2 at 37 ° C. Analysis of the resulting transconjugants revealed that the degree of resistance to amoxycillin and amoxycillin in combination with clavulanic acid was related to the specific activity of the TEM-1 β-lactamase. The variation in specific activity was shown to be related to plasmid type as determined by restriction analysis. No obvious relationship between β-lactamase specific activity and resistance to amoxycillin and amoxycillin plus clavulanic acid could be demonstrated in the original plasmid donor strains.