in the first hour (Westergren); erythrocytes 4,400.000 per c.mm.; haemoglobin 9.6 g. per 100 ml.; P.C.V. 31%; total and differential white counts normal; plasma albumin 2.3 g. and globulin 2.9 g. per 100 ml.; blood urea nitrogen 11 mg.

SUMMARYInvestigation of a small series of cases of typhoid fever infected in a river between 1963 and 1970 revealed that all were caused by a single source, a carrier of a rare phage type of Salmonella typhi. The contamination of the river resulted from an incorrect sewage connexion with a surface water drain outfall into the river.

SYNOPSIS Three methods of urine collection used currently in the diagnosis of urinary tract infection in children were studied. One hundred and fifty-two hospital patients were investigated: 92 by clean-catch method, 32 by the adhesive plastic bag technique, and 28 by suprapubic bladder aspiration. Results indicate that in the great majority of children a satisfactory diagnosis can be made on bacteriological grounds by the examination of specimens passed naturally and collected with care. In a minority of cases further investigation by such means as bladder aspiration may be indicated and this gives conclusive results.To establish with certainty the presence of a bacteriuria significant of infection in children is both a difficult and important task. Care in urine collection is accepted as of crucial importance but doubt still remains as to the most reliable method applicable to children. The two main alternatives are collection by natural means and instrumentation. It is anticipated, however, that the latter method may be adopted only in a minority of cases. Certain aspects of the clean-catch and adhesive bag methods were studied in two wards of a children's hospital, and from the results of these, suprapubic bladder aspiration was carried out in a third ward on a selected group of cases.

The incidence of patients with positive blood cultures from which a single species of coliform bacillus was isolated is given for the years 1962 to 67. There has been an increase during these years particularly in neonatal infants: 91 cases were recorded in babies under 6 months of age, and the bacteriological and clinical findings have been related in 85. Children born either prematurely or as a multiple birth and those with congenital malformations showed a predisposition to this form of infection. Many of the remaining cases had an associated localised infection. Some aspects of the cause of the increase in coliform bacteraemia in babies are discussed and the severity and possible implications of the infection are emphasised.

Five cases of infection by Past. septica following dog and cat bites have been described. The organism was isolated in pure culture in 4 cases. Attention is drawn to the potential danger and care necessary in handling injured animals.