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Thirty-four patients with chronic destructive pneumonia (CDP) were investigated bacteriologically and mycologically; specimens were obtained by transtracheal aspiration, percutaneous lung puncture, and open lung biopsy. Anaerobes were isolated in the absence of aerobes in 1 case while specimens from 9 patients yielded aerobes only. In 16 patients both groups of organisms were cultured. Streptococcus viridans was isolated in 12 cases and fungi in 2 cases. Specimens from 8 patients were sterile on culture. All patients had been treated with various antibiotic combinations before specimens were taken. Aerobes, particularly Gram-positive cocci, and anaerobes probably play an important synergistic role in the pathogenesis of CDP.

Three cases of meningitis and two of septicaemia were caused by pneumococci resistant to the penicillins/cephalosporins and chloramphenicol. No beta-lactamase was demonstrated in any of the organisms. All three patients with meningitis died, but the patients with septicaemia recovered after being given appropriate antibiotic therapy.

A prospective study was undertaken over a period of six months to determine the spectrum of infection, sensitivity of organisms isolated, and suitability of antibiotics chosen in 520 consecutive patients admitted to a paediatric unit. Culture and sensitivity of stool, urine and blood yielded 752 isolates; in 147 cases, more than one pathogen was isolated from the same or different sites. High rates of resistance to chloramphenicol, ampicillin, and kanamycin were seen in salmonellae other than Salmonella typhi, which differed in retaining its original sensitive susceptibility profile. Most Enterobacteria were sensitive to gentamicin. Penicillin-resistance was seen in 9% of meningococci, and several Haemophilus influenzae strains (20%) were resistant to ampicillin. Methicillin-resistance was encountered in 13% of Staphylococcus aureus strains and 17% of pneumococci were resistant to penicillin G. The sensitivity pattern of organisms isolated was probably directly related to widespread use of antibiotics.

A 16-year survey (1960--1975) of Salmonella infections other than typhoid fever in Black and Indian children admitted to King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, is reported. The 3,393 patients yielded 3,688 Salmonella enteritidis serotypes, mainly typhimurium, johannesburg/duval, manhattan, enteritidis, and senftenberg. Organisms were isolated from one or more of the following: stool, urine, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, liver, sputum, subcutaneous tissue, ear and bone. Patients' ages varied from 1 day to 12 years, with a median age of 8 months. The high incidence of malnutrition, other debilitating diseases and multiple pathogens isolated from many of the patients precluded firm decisions as to the role played by most salmonellae as contributory factors or causes of death.