L\ V1TATI:"G I'",ECMO"IA is probabl y the best known fc}rm of staphylococcal lung infection. It Occurs sporadically in infants and has, of recent years, become more common in the adult (Hausman and Kadish, 1956). l\Iultiple abScesses occur throughout the lung (Fig. I); empyema and pneumothorax are conlillollly fc)Und and the mortality may be as high as 23 per cent despite the use of antibiotics (vVallman and others, 1955)' A different clinical and pathological pictlll'e is sometimes seen in children. Here the course of the disease is short, occupying it day or so, the principal clinical features being a shock-like state, intense dyspnoea and cyanosis. Necropsy reveals a haemorrhagic consolidation of the lung (Guthrie and Montgomery, 1947). Such cases may be overlooked as staphylococcal and may be confused with intrapulmonary haemorrhage at necropsy.
