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Neutrophils incubated with 20 mM F- express a respiratory burst without degranulating or performing phagocytosis. After 60 min of F- treatment, the burst is exhausted and cannot be restarted. Neutrophils so treated have a microbicidal defect similar to that of chronic granulomatous disease (CGD): they kill Str. mitis at a nearly normal rate, but show a marked impairment in the destruction of S. aureus. They differ from CGD neutrophils in that they also display a defect in motility. This defect, however, is not so severe as to seriously impair their ability to kill bacteria by mechanisms that are independent of endogenously generated microbicidal oxidants.