Cutaneous and mucosal carriage of Staphylococcus intermedius was investigated in six healthy beagles before and after application of fusidic acid to mucosal surfaces as 1 per cent viscous eye drops twice daily for seven days. Bacterial populations were determined repeatedly over four weeks using quantitative techniques. The overall cutaneous populations of S intermedius reduced significantly (P < 0.001) two days after treatment but returned to pretreatment levels after a further week. The mucosal frequency of S intermedius reduced significantly (P < 0.01) two days after treatment and remained reduced (P < 0.01) at the end of the study. The mucosal populations were also reduced (P < 0.01) two days after treatment and remained lower (P < 0.05) after a further week. No such changes occurred in the control group of six beagles. The study indicates the importance of mucosae as carriage sites for S intermedius in dogs. This form of therapy may be useful as an additional tool against canine recurrent pyoderma.

A hyperplastic (strawberry) gingivitis is a feature of Wegener's granulomatosis. A further case is described in which the only manifestations to date have been the gingival lesion. The diagnostic value of the ANCA test is discussed for patients who present with an unusual hyperplastic gingivitis.

A livestock farmer with a history of arthropathy presented with unilateral olecranon bursal swelling and tenderness. Multiple wound and intraoperative cultures revealed growth of Trueperella bernardiae, a Gram-positive coccobacillus, with symptom resolution following appropriate antimicrobial therapy. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of olecranon bursitis caused by this organism. Coryneform bacteria are often regarded as contaminants in clinical cultures, but advanced techniques for species identification may reveal expanded pathogenic potential of individual species like T. bernardiae and elucidate epidemiologic clues for osteoarticular infections in these cases.

C A N D IDBecause of its simplicity and rapidity, we have used the CIE test as a routine post-operative screening procedure to detect antibodies to C. albicans and for the diagnosis of suspected candida endocarditis after cardiac surgery. Since many sera gave positive reactions in the absence of clinical indications of infection, and others reacted weakly or gave doubtful reactions in the test, the CIE test alone was considered to be insufficient as a screening procedure. Therefore we investigated the value of ID, FA, and agglutination (AGG) tests as screening procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS SeraThese were obtained from patients who were about to undergo, or who had undergone, operations on the heart, and from control patients and staff. The pre-operative sera were collected 1-3 days before operation and the post-operative sera between 2 months and 3 years after operation. Sera were initially divided into eight categories :1. Endocarditis: a total of 20 post-operative sera from six patients who had developed endocarditis after homograft heart-valve replacement, shown by culture to be due to Candida spp. (table I). Only in Case 2 was a pre-operative serum available for study. In Case 6 prolonged incubation of material from the homograft yielded C. albicans indistinguishable from later blood-culture isolates.

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