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A retrospective study was made of 44 elderly patients with bacteraemia treated in the period 1974-1980. Positive blood cultures in 5 cases were considered clinically insignificant. Twenty-six of the remaining 39 patients were found to have a Gram-negative bacteraemia, mainly associated with urinary tract infection. Abnormalities of liver function were common but 5 jaundiced patients with Gram-negative infection were shown to have stones in the common bile duct. The value of blood cultures as a diagnostic aid in the non-specifically ill elderly patient is emphasized.

A man of 61 with a 26-year history of progressive cerebellar ataxia was admitted to hospital. He was found to have chronic liver disease and died 22 days after admission. A diagnosis of hepatolenticular degeneration (Wilson's disease) was supported by clinical investigations and confirmed at autopsy, when tissue copper studies were performed. Several unusual features were present, including a unilateral Kayser-Fleischer ring, a hepatocellular carcinoma, peripheral neuropathy, pontine demyelination and calcification of neurones in the medulla. The significance of these findings is discussed with a review of the relevant literature.