Malassezia furfur strains were isolated from the clinically normal skin of 10 volunteers by swabbing four different sites (forehead, ear, back and chest). The strains could be divided into three basic groups on the basis of cultural characteristics. Both unabsorbed and absorbed specific rabbit antisera were prepared against nine of the strains, and both species and group specific antigens could be demonstrated. Serologically, three group specific surface antigens could be identified which corresponded to the three groups identifiable on cultural characteristics. The relevance of these findings to previous in vitro results is discussed.

. Mite-sensitive asthma of childhood: trial of avoidance measures. A trial of the effects of measures designed to reduce exposure to house-dust mites was performed on 14 children with mite-sensitive asthma. These measures reduced mite infestation of the beds and were associated with clinical improvement of asthmatic symptoms. Immunological studies revealed a tendency for levels of total serum IgE to fall during the course of the trial, but no such changes were apparent in the levels of anti-mite specific serum IgE. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.The conclusion of the study is that the use of a plastic mattress cover and the other inexpensive and harmless avoidance measures described should be advised for all asthmatic children with evidence of mite-sensitivity before resort to drug prophylaxis or hyposensitization procedures.Evidence has accumulated over the past decade that the house-dust mite, genus Dermatophagoides, is a world wide and potent allergenic component of house-dust (Voorhorst, Spieksma-Boezman, and

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Patients with varying degrees of acne, acne-free adult controls and samples of cord blood were investigated for cell mediated immunity to P. acnes using a leukocyte migration inhibition test. Despite the fact that the mean migration index tended to decrease with acne severity, only the patients with severe acne showed cell-mediated immunity. It is suggested that when cellular immunity arises it is a late event which may contribute to inflammation but is probably not a factor in its initiation.

A cryostat sectioning procedure was used to determine quantitative viable counts of microorganisms both on the surface and in successive layers of human cadaver skin biopsies. Also, using a previously described xenograft model, we investigated the dependence of microorganisms on the presence of sebaceous glands by using full thickness (1.5-2.0 mm) and split thickness (0.6 mm, ensuring sebaceous gland exclusion) human skin. Our results show substantial variation in the distribution and abundance of skin bacteria, even amongst biopsies from the same cadaver. In general, propionibacteria were distributed within a narrow band at varying depths beneath the skin surface whereas staphylococci were more broadly distributed. The importance of this with respect to topically applied antiseptics and antimicrobial agents is indicated. The xenograft studies demonstrated that propionibacteria were dependent on the presence of sebaceous glands whereas staphylococci were not.