SUMMARY Quantitative aerobic cultures were obtained from fifty patients with chronic plaques, and from twenty with exudative lesions of atopic dermatitis. In the former, Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 90% and the density exceeded 1 × 106/cm2 in 45% of the samples. In the exudative form, Staph. aureus was recovered in every case with a mean density of 14 × 106 organisms per cm2. Staph. aureus was the dominant organism not only in the lesions but in nearby clinically normal skin. Despite these high numbers, clinical signs of infection were lacking. Systemic and topical antibiotic therapy pro‐duced a profound decrease in Staph. aureus density. It is proposed that high numbers of Staph. aureus may aggravate the underlying lesion and be the source of Staph. aureus infections in contacts.

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The axillary microflora of 229 subjects was characterized quantitatively and the results correlated with whether the odor was pungent body odor or instead a faint "acid odor". The axillary flora was found to be a stable mixture of Micrococcaceae, aerobic diphtheroids and Propionibacteria. Significantly higher numbers of bacteria were recovered from the axilla of those with pungent axillary odor than in those with acid odor. Aerobic diphtheroids in high numbers were recovered in all subjects having typical body odor. These included lipophilic as well as large-colony diphtheroids. When droplets of apocrine sweat placed on the forearm were inoculated with various bacteria which reside in the axilla, only diphtheroids generated typical body odor. Cocci produced a sweaty odor attributable to isovaleric acid.

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