Two rapid spectroscopic approaches for whole-organism fingerprinting of pyrolysis-mass spectrometry (PyMS) and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to analyze a group of 29 clinical and reference Candida isolates. These strains had been identified by conventional means as belonging to one of the three species Candida albicans, C. dubliniensis(previously reported as atypical C. albicans), and C. stellatoidea (which is also closely related to C. albicans). To observe the relationships of the 29 isolates as judged by PyMS and FT-IR, the spectral data were clustered by discriminant analysis. On visual inspection of the cluster analyses from both methods, three distinct clusters, which were discrete for each of the Candida species, could be seen. Moreover, these phenetic classifications were found to be very similar to those obtained by genotypic studies which examined the HinfI restriction enzyme digestion patterns of genomic DNA and by use of the 27A C. albicans-specific probe. Both spectroscopic techniques are rapid (typically, 2 min for PyMS and 10 s for FT-IR) and were shown to be capable of successfully discriminating between closely related isolates of C. albicans, C. dubliniensis, and C. stellatoidea. We believe that these whole-organism fingerprinting methods could provide opportunities for automation in clinical microbial laboratories, improving turnaround times and the use of resources.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection was identified in 11 dogs. The infection was associated with surgical treatment especially orthopaedic surgery. Infection after traumatic wounding, and recurrent pyoderma was also seen. Oral antibiotic treatment improved or resolved the infection in nine of the 11 dogs, although the methicillin-resistant isolates were susceptible to relatively few antibiotics.

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The mechanism of azole resistance of Candida albicans NCPF 3310 (the deposited culture of the Darlington strain) has been investigated but never fully explained. Seven isolates of this strain, from various sources, were examined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to detect changes in the sterol composition following passage through many laboratories over several years. Five of the seven, including one recently isolated from the patient, were found to be similar to each other in sterol content, containing large amounts of fecosterol. Of the remaining two, one was thought to be a sensitive variant, both produced only small quantities of fecosterol and resembled the normal clinical strains and other azole-resistant strains in sterol content. The sterol composition of the Darlington strain was unique and apparently stable to prolonged in vitro experimentation and passage through the patient.

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Four canine isolates of S. intermedius resistant to enro¯oxacin were isolated amongst a total of 429 screened. Two of these were shown to exhibit resistance also to marbo¯oxacin and cipro¯oxacin. Whilst molecular studies have shown the mechanism of resistance to these quinolone antibiotics to be similar in a number of staphylococcal species, it was not possible to con®rm this mechanism in Staphylococcus intermedius.