Florphenicol was active at a lower concentration than chloramphenicol against over half of 234 recent clinical bacterial isolates. The majority (98%) of the isolates were inhibited by florphenicol at a concentration of 8 mg/l or less. Florphenicol was particularly effective against chloramphenicol resistant strains of Haemophilus influenzae. Klebsiella aerogenes and Bacteroides spp. Florphenicol was bacteristatic for salmonellae and Escherichia coli but bactericidal for Haemophilus influenzae. Florphenicol was slightly more active than chloramphenicol against Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma hominis and Mycoplasma pneumoniae but less active against Ureaplasma urealyticum.

SUMMARYThree strains of penicillin-induced and one strain of D-cycloserineinduced L-forms of Staphylococcus aureus were investigated for components of the normal bacterial cell wall. None of the 4 strains was found to contain more than 0.008 yo of its dry weight as muramic acid, indicating the lack of mucopeptide. These forms also lacked the cell-wall ribitol teichoic acid as shown by the failure to yield any material containing ribitol. Neither muramic acid nor ribitol was detected as acid-soluble nucleotides in the L-forms, and teichoic acid was not released into the supernatant medium. Serological evidence for polysaccharide A was not found, but there was serological identity between extracts of membranes obtained from staphylococci and extracts of membranes isolated from the L-forms.

SUMMARY Ciprofloxacin, a quinolone antibacterial, was evaluated in the treatment of gonococcal, chlamydial, gonococcal and chlamydial, and non-gonococcal non-chlamydial urethritis. The dosage regimen used was 500 mg orally twice a day for seven days. Of the 56 patients evaulated, 22 had gonococcal infection only, 13 were infected with Chlamydia trachomatis only, seven had combined infection, and 14 were harbouring neither of these organisms. Neisseria gonorrhoeae was cleared in all the 29 patients with or without chlamydial infection. Of those who denied having sexual intercourse during the follow up period, post gonococcal urethritis (PGU) developed in 12 (63%) out of 19, C trachomatis was isolated again from 11 (78%) out of 14, and urethritis recurred in five (55%) out of nine patients with non-gonococcal non-chlamydial infection. There was also evidence that the dosage regimen used was only partially effective against Ureaplasma urealyticum.

Neonatal lower respiratory tract colonisation with mycoplasma organisms was examined for an association with chronic lung disease. Ureaplasma urealyticum colonised 9/70 (13%) infants less than 1500 g. Seven (78%) colonised and 33 (54%) non-colonised infants developed chronic lung disease. Logistic regression analyses revealed early gestation, but not mycoplasma colonisation, was independently associated with chronic lung disease.

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