Several strains previously classified as group I11 staphylococci, by the scheme of Schleifer and Kocur, and numerous strains isolated from animal and human skin that appeared to be related to group I11 strains were subjected to a taxonomic study. As a result of this study, all group 111 and related strains were placed in the newly proposed species Staphylococcus sciuri. This species can be differentiated from all other staphylococci on the basis of colony morphology, cell wall peptidoglycan, acid production from cellobiose and usually from fucose under aerobic conditions, and a combination of other characteristics. Thirty-five strains that produced large colonies, usually moderate to light anaerobic growth in thioglycolate, and acid from galactose, sucrose, glycerol, and often from melezitose were placed in the type subspecies, S. sciuri subsp. sciuri. Nine strains that produced very small, unpigmented colonies, usually no detectable anaerobic growth in thioglycolate, and acid from sucrose and often from galactose, glycerol, lactose, and raffinose were placed in the subspecies S. sciuri subsp. lentus. The type strains of these subspecies are ATCC 29062 and ATCC 29070, respectively. A group of three strains that produced relatively small, unpigmented colonies, moderate anaerobic growth in thioglycolate, and acid from glycerol but failed to produce acid from sucrose, melezitose, raffinose and usually galactose may also deserve subspecies status. A summary of the character variation found in S. sciuri and in other novobiocin-resistant species and a simplified scheme for distinguishing S. sciuri and its subspecies are included in this paper.In 1973, Schleifer and Kocur (13) recognized a group of nine strains of staphylococci that contained a unique cell-wall peptidoglycan type, LLys-L-Ala-Gly,, and formed L-lactic acid from glucose under anaerobic conditions. According to their classification scheme, based on peptidoglycan type, teichoic acid type, configuration of lactic acid, and pH values of a glucose medium after anaerobic incubation, these strains were placed in Staphylococcus groups IIIA, B , and C. More recent studies by Kocur and BohaCek (7) have determined that the guanine plus cytosine (G+ C) contents of the deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) of several of the strains in group IIIA are in the range of 29.8 to 33.3 mol%. One of the strains (CCM 2614; 13) in group IIIC was previously designated as Staphylococcus lactis by Davison and co-workers (1-3); however, since the name S. lactis is a later objective synonym of Micrococcus uarians Migula 1900 (8), it cannot be appropriately applied to staphylococci.To date, staphylococci in group I11 have remained in an uncertain taxonomic status.In independent studies characterizing staphy- lococci from animal and human skin, we have isolated certain strains that could not be identified with currently recognized species of Staphylococcus, namely, S . aureus, S. simulans, S . xylosus, S. cohnii, S . saprophyticus, S . haemolyticus, S . warneri, S . hominis, S . epidermidis, a...

Objectives: To determine the reliability of the diagnosis of non-gonococcal urethritis (NGU), and the variation between and within microscopists, from urethral smears at a large London genitourinary medicine clinic. Methods: A senior microscopist (SM) preselected 60 Gram stained urethral smear slides, 20 negative (,5 polymorphs/hpf), 20 low grade NGU (5-20 p/hpf), and 20 high grade NGU (.20 p/hpf). Ten experienced microscopists, blinded to these initial grades, examined all slides giving each a polymorph score. After relabelling and randomly changing their order, the slides were re-examined by the same microscopists. Finally, the SM determined whether the study had resulted in loss of cells from any of the slides. The SM's initial grading and the consensus among microscopists provide two gold standards for analysis. Results: Nine low grade and five high grade slides were removed from analysis because of loss of cells. By SM standard, considering microscopists' readings as simply non-NGU (,5 p/hpf) or NGU (>5 p/hpf), 97% from negative slides were correct (variation 93-100 across microscopists), 68% from low grade slides (45-95), and 94% from high grade slides (83-100). Consistency between repeat readings by the same microscopist was 96% for negatives, 75% for low grade and 89% for high grade slides. Results were similar by consensus standard. Conclusions: There was considerable variation between and within microscopists in the diagnosis of NGU. Sensitivity was strongly related to grade of urethritis, with an appreciable proportion of low grade urethritis falsely diagnosed as negative. With increasing attendances for sexual health screening, a false positive rate of only 3% may lead to many false diagnoses.

SUMMARYSixty lipophilic diphtheroids (LD) isolated from human skin were characterized by a variety of morphological, biochemical, physiological and nutritional tests. The LD strains were tentatively placed into six fermentative groups and one non-fermentative group. Most LD strains required amino nitrogen, others required vitamins plus amino acids for growth. Nine LD isolates initiated growth with ammonia as a sole nitrogen source. Urea and nitrate were not utilized. A total of 149 cutaneous bacteria were compared for esterase and lipase action. Esterase activity was common but few LD strains appear capable of obtaining their required lipids by their own lipase action. The grouping scheme derived from studies with the 60 LD strains was tested as a screening procedure to recognize and categorize other LD strains. A second series of 115 cultures from seven cutaneous sites were isolated. Six of the original seven groups were identified and one additional subgroup was formed. The screening method was partially effective as a means of studying the location and types of LD strains on skin. There were 31 strains which by determinative features could be grouped as Corynebacterium xerosis-like species. Human skin appears to have an unrecognized diversity of lipophilic corynebacteria yet to be classified into species.

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A total of 221 strains of staphylococci and 98 strains of micrococci isolated from the skins of Eastern gray squirrels, Southern flying squirrels, raccoons, opossums, squirrel monkeys, swine, sheep, horses, cattle, and dogs were characterized in a preliminary attempt to resolve their natural relationships and distribution in nature. Staphylococci demonstrating the widest host range included Staphylococcus xylosus and unnamed Staphylococcus sp. 3. Unnamed Staphylococcus sp. 2 was isolated only from sheep, Staphylococcus sp. 4 only from opossums, Staphylococcus sp. 5 only from squirrel monkeys, and Staphylococcus sp. 6 only from swine. The predominant species isolated from human skin, including S. epidermidis, S. hominis, S. haemolyticus, and S. capitis, were either not isolated or only rarely isolated from animal skin. Micrococcus varians was the predominant Micrococcus species isolated from animal skin. M. luteus was only occasionally isolated. M. lylae, M. sedentarius, M. roseus, M. kristinae, and M. nishinomiyaensis, species occasionally isolated from human skin, were not isolated from animal skin.