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Eight cases of neonatal Haemophilus influenzae infection occurred at Colorado General Hospital during a 3 1/2-year period. Four of the cases were due to nontypable organisms and four to type b organisms. Four were bacteremic, only two of which were type b. None of the patients had meningitis. In all instances, maternal genital tract cultures yielded H infleuzae that, when tested, was of the same serotype as the infant isolate. A survey of cervical cultures among normal and pregnant women yielded H influenzae in less than 1%. There are several possible reasons for the disparity between the apparent high incidence of neonatal infection and low prevalence of maternal carriage.

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To learn the role of Legionella pneumophila, the agent of Legionnaires' disease, in childhood illness, a prospective study was conducted among 52 children younger than four years of age with acute disease of the lower respiratory tract. Viral, mycoplasmal, and bacterial cultures and acute- and convalescent-phase sera were obtained during 64 episodes of acute illness; additional sera were drawn annually for three to five years. On the basis of serologic evidence, none of the acute episodes appeared to be due to L. pneumophila serogroup 1 or 2. However, examination of annual serum specimens showed that 27 (52%) of the children had rises in titer of indirect immunofluorescent antibody (a fourfold or greater rise to a reciprocal titer of greater than or equal to 128). Most rises in titer were in response to the serogroup 2 antigen. These results suggest that L. pneumophila is not a common cause of acute respiratory disease in early childhood in the study area but that children are frequently exposed to the organism. Alternatively, the serologic responses might be to unrelated cross-reacting microorganisms.