Streptococcus pneumoniae was isolated from nasopharyngeal swabs and tracheal washings taken from Thoroughbred horses in training at three of four separate stables that were sampled during investigations into respiratory disease. The growth of Strep pneumoniae in culture was enhanced by an environment enriched with carbon dioxide. In one stable, five of 15 horses that were sampled repeatedly were found to carry the organism for at least four months. There was an apparent association between lower respiratory tract inflammatory disease and heavy growths (10(6) to 10(8) colony forming units/ml) predominantly of Strep pneumoniae or of that organism together with large numbers of Strep zooepidemicus obtained from tracheal washings. Twelve strains of Strep pneumoniae isolated from three stables were all of capsule Type 3. Only one strain, which was of capsule Type 9, was isolated from nose and throat swabs taken from 32 staff working in one of the stables and suggested an absence of cross infection between horses and their handlers in this instance.

Journal Article The quality of antimicrobial susceptibility testing disks Get access D. F. J. Brown, D. F. J. Brown Clinical Microbiology and Regional Public Health Laboratory, New Addenbrooke 's HospitalHills Road, Cambridge CB2 2Q W, England Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar M. Warner, M. Warner Clinical Microbiology and Regional Public Health Laboratory, New Addenbrooke 's HospitalHills Road, Cambridge CB2 2Q W, England Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar J. Bradley, J. Bradley Clinical Microbiology and Regional Public Health Laboratory, New Addenbrooke 's HospitalHills Road, Cambridge CB2 2Q W, England Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar C. E. D. Taylor C. E. D. Taylor Clinical Microbiology and Regional Public Health Laboratory, New Addenbrooke 's HospitalHills Road, Cambridge CB2 2Q W, England Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Volume 10, Issue 5, November 1982, Pages 373–382, https://doi.org/10.1093/jac/10.5.373 Published: 01 November 1982 Article history Accepted: 07 April 1982 Published: 01 November 1982

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SIR,-As you state in your leading article (10 May, p. 330), delivery of the midstream urine (M.S.U.) sample to the laboratory presents serious problems. We are constantly reminded of the importance of correct identification of causative organisms in the treatment of urinary tract infections. However, unless the sample is plated within two or three hours of passing, the M.S.U. is not only useless but can be very misleading. Your readers may be interested to know how we have overcome this problem in our practice. Patients are sent home with the usual sterile bottle and printed instructions as to how to collect the specimen. They are urged to bring the sample back to the tsurgery as soon as possible, which, in the majority of cases, is less than an hour. On arrival the specimens are plated out on standard blood agar and MacConkey plates, supplied by the local pathology laboratory. The plates are then sealed with adhesive tape, labelled, and posted to the laboratory together with the specimen. The procedure takes a few minutes only. Once plating has been done the transport problem no longer exists. In this way it is possible to plate out specimens within an hour or two of passing in the majority of cases. We have had very satisfactory results using this methoddespite delays due to weekends and postal delays.

Two field trials of A 2 live influenza vaccine (Iksha) are described; the clinical reactions and antibody response in three earlier trials are compared.The antibody response in the last two trials was unsatisfactory and was inferior to that observed in the earlier investigations. This reduction in response was probably due to an alteration in the virus during further passage.

Between 1953 and 1961, 108,933 persons aged 15 years and over were referred by general practitioners for a chest X-ray, usually because of respiratory symptoms. In 1,107 (10 per thousand) circumscribed lung shadows were seen. In males the proportion rose from 10 per thousand in those under 45 to 30 per thousand in those aged 65 years or more; the corresponding figures for females were 8 and 13 per thousand. The incidence of this abnormality showed a regular seasonal rise and fall—highest in February and lowest in July—but in 1957 the peak coincided with the autumn epidemic of Asian influenza. The seasonal distribution of the cases is compared with various indices of respiratory disease and atmospheric pollution. In a serological study during the winters of 1959 and 1960 complement-fixing antibody against influenza viruses A, B and C was found more frequently in patients with pneumonitis than in patients with some other, or no, abnormality. The epidemiological and serological evidence suggests that the occurrence of pneumonitis is related to the prevalence of both influenza and other acute respiratory illness in the population.