No abstract

Prereduced, anaerobically sterilized peptone yeast glucose broth was supplemented with p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid and used for the presumptive identification of Clostridium difficile. Two hundred eighty-two organisms were grown in this medium for 18 h and tested for p-cresol production by gas-liquid chromatography. Ail 49 stock and reference strains of C. difficile and 19 organisms confirmed as C. difficile produced p-cresol. p-Cresol was not produced by 53 negative control or 161 test organisms. The system was convenient and effective.

The first Canadian case of coccidioidomycosis in a human was reported in 1952 and 11 more cases since then. This study provides details of other cases of coccidioidomycosis that have been diagnosed in Canada. Based on clinical details, isolation of Coccidioides immitis, detection of a specific antibody (F band) for coccidioidomycosis by macro- or microimmunodiffusion tests, concurrently used with the complement fixation procedure, and histopathological findings, 116 more cases of this disease were verified. The great majority (94%) of these cases were diagnosed in the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the others in Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia (5, 1, and 1 cases, respectively). Available information indicates that the C. immitis infections were contracted during visits to endemic areas in the United States (Arizona, California and New Mexico), Mexico, and Bolivia. Pulmonary infections were the most common type of coccidioidomycosis (93%) followed by the disseminated or meningeal types C. immitis infections occurred in individuals with or without predisposing factor(s) and were more common in males than in females. The exoantigen procedure was very useful and reliable in the accurate and rapid identification of suspected C. immitis isolates. Two cases of coccidioidomycosis were reported in animals in Ontario, Canada.