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SYNOPSISThe nasal carrier status of 3,736 patients was determined throughout their stay in hospital. The carrier rate on admission, which was highest in patients under 20 years of age, did not appear to vary with season.The carriage of strains resistant to penicillin increased with the patients' stay in hospital from 13-8 % on admission to 20 5 % on discharge, and the acquisition of these strains was enhanced by the administration of antibiotics.Patients discharged from hospital carrying strains of staphylococci acquired in hospital lost them more readily than patients discharged carrying the strain which they had carried on admission, 31 % of those discharged carrying strains resistant to penicillin and tetracycline being readmitted carrying these strains compared with 69 % of those discharged carrying strains sensitive to these antibiotics. METHODSNasal swabs were taken from the anterior nares using cotton-tipped swabs which were inoculated on to serum agar plates containing 0-01 % phenolphthalein phosphate (Barber and Kuper, 1951

SUMMARYA total of 2525 strains of Escherichia coli were isolated from the faeces of 33 mothers, the faeces of their babies and the mucus extracted from the babies' mouths after delivery. Of these strains 1832 could be 0-serotyped with 150 0 antisera. E. coli were isolated from 28 babies and the same serotypes as were found in their mothers were found in 22 of them. E. coli was isolated from only 14 of the mucus specimens but in 12 of these at least one of the serotypes present was subsequently found in the babies' stools.

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