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Peptostreptococcus ivorii, a recently described species of gram-positive anaerobic coccus, has so far rarely been found in human infections. The isolation of this anaerobe from a polybacterial skin abscess in a HIV-infected patient, which formed after antiretroviral therapy had been discontinued is reported. Local treatment led to the abscess healing without specific antibiotics. As the type strain was isolated from a mixed infected leg ulcer, Peptostreptococcus ivorii could play an important role in synergistic infections of the skin.

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88 strains of five Prevotella species--P. bivia, P. buccae, P. disiens, P. oralis, and P. oris--were examined for their fibronectin and laminin binding properties with the aid of latex particle agglutination assays. Beside single protein binding activities, all species showed strains that adhered to both fibronectin and laminin. The oral species, P. buccae, P. oralis, and P. oris were found to interact with laminin to a pronouncedly higher extent than with fibronectin. The urogenital species, P. bivia and P. disiens showed comparable activities of binding to fibronectin and laminin, with P. bivia exhibiting higher matrix protein binding rates than P. disiens. Within the oral species group, P. oralis showed a higher percentage of fibronectin and laminin reactive strains than did P. buccae and P. oris. The finding of species-related different binding properties may throw some light on the known differences in clinical relevance and pathogenicity of the urogenital species, P. bivia and P. disiens, but does so only in part concerning the oral species, P. buccae, P. oralis, and P. oris. Moreover, the observed differences in matrix protein binding of Prevotella species may have implications in chemotaxis and opsonization on the one hand and maintenance of colonization activities under antibiotic therapy on the other.

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We report on a 72-year-old woman suffering from gas gangrene of the right leg, which developed 3 days after getting injured while gardening. Due to rapid microbiological diagnosis-direct microscopical examination of muscle biopsies revealed numerous grampositive rods-, immediately performed amputation of the leg and antibiotic treatment with penicillin and metronidazole the patient survived. From the muscle biopsies Clostridium septicum, which is found ubiquitously, was isolated in pure culture.

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HISTORY AND CLINICAL FINDINGS: A 37-year-old chronic alcoholic had increasingly frequent haematemesis and recently had developed upper abdominal pain. His general condition had clearly deteriorated and he was finally admitted as an emergency. There were no previous illnesses other than alcoholism. He had a fever of 39.0 degrees C on admission, his sclerae were icteric and his abdomen was hard and resistant to palpation. He was slightly drowsy. INVESTIGATIONS: Laboratory tests indicated haemolysis with a haemoglobin of 10 g/dl, lactate dehydrogenase concentration of 330 U/l, urobilinogenuria and a raised white blood cell count of 11,500/microliter. Sonography revealed liver cirrhosis and ascites. TREATMENT AND COURSE: Because of the haematemesis a gastroscopy was performed, during which the patient went into acute shock from which he died. At autopsy the cause of the bleeding was found to be an ulcer at the oesophagocardiac junction. The gastrointestinal tract was filled with blood. He also had alcoholic liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension, as well as splenomegaly as sign of a septicaemia. Histologically masses of rod-shaped bacteria were found, especially in the heart, but also in liver, kidneys and peritoneum, which bacteriologically were identified as Clostridium sordellii. CONCLUSION: In patients with impaired immunological resistance Clostridium sordellii may cause an acute and quickly fatal septicaemia with intravascular haemolysis.

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In April 1996 four patients at the University Hospital of Tübingen became ill with diarrhoea at short intervals; one of the patients also suffered from fever. From stool samples of all four patients Salmonella subspecies II 4,12,27:b:- was isolated; from the patient who had fever the pathogen was also isolated from one blood culture. The patients were treated at different wards of the hospital. All four patients suffered from underlying diseases. In the course of a microbiological examination of the central kitchen staff of the hospital Salmonella subspecies II 4,12,27:b:- was isolated from a stool sample of one of the employees. No contact to cold blooded animals, no travel abroad and no symptoms of gastroenteritis were reported by the employee. When the employee had been temporarily suspended no further Salmonella infections occurred.

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Tissue PO2 distribution was measured in rat cerebral cortex during arterial normoxia and arterial hypoxia. The study was designed to examine the relationship between the PO2 histograms determined with surface electrodes in the superficial cortical cells and with needle electrodes in the cortical laminae below. Under normoxic as well as under hypoxic conditions the PO2 distributions of the compared brain regions were in close agreement. The results indicate that PO2 measurements in the brain cortex with surface microelectrodes give a correct view over the tissue oxygenation in cortical regions up to 500 microns below the measuring field.

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The laminin binding properties of eight species of the genus Bacteroides were examined using latex particle agglutination assay. B. fragilis was found to bind strongly to laminin, whereas all other species tested showed no or only weak laminin adherence. The pronounced differences in laminin binding activity between B. fragilis on the one side and B. thetaiotaomicron and B. ovatus on the other were determined to be statistically significant (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively). With regard to the relevance of laminin adherence for bacterial pathogenicity and invasiveness, our results give a possible explanation for the well-known finding that B. fragilis is the most frequently isolated pathogen in anaerobic bacteremia.

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