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SUMMARYEarlier papers describing the bacterial flora of the avian digestive tract suggest that the finding of Escherichia coli in the intestines of some grain and fruit eating birds, notably the parrots and parakeets, is abnormal. It has been postulated that coliforms in these species are likely to be pathogenic and that antibiotics should be used on a prophylactic basis in such cases. The evidence presented to support these suppositions is not convincing. A recent analysis of the records of post-mortem examinations carried out at the Zoological Society of London's collection at Regent's Park revealed that E. coli was present in 180 of 271 apparently normal birds. This suggests that E. coli is regularly found in the digestive tracts of the species under question and that there is no evidence that the organism is necessarily pathogenic.

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Page C186: John P. Johnson, Doris Jones, and William P. Wiesmann. “Hormonal regulation of Na+-K+-ATPase in cultured epithelial cells.” Page C187—C189: the appropriate units for the activity of Na+-K+-ATPase should be micromoles per milligram protein per hour, not micromoles per microgram protein per hour for Table 1, Figure 3, and text.

One hundred and fifty organisms, comprising bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes, were isolated from straw-compost, manure, soil, drainage material and soil enriched with virus concentrates, and were tested for antiviral activity in vitro. Three of these organisms gave indications of possible inactivation of some of the fowl pox virus, and, in one case, of the laryngotracheitis virus. The active principle of one of these organisms was actinomycin A, an antibacterial substance known to be highly toxic to animals. The other two organisms were less extensively studied, and no claims regarding their antiviral potentialities can be made at present.