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In a maternity hospital in which the umbilicus and trunk of healthy newborn infants were treated with 0.33% hexachlorophane dusting powder, the hexachlorophane content of blood was measured in mothers before delivery, in infants' umbilical samples at birth, and at 8 days of age in capillary blood samples. One mother and her baby had rather high blood concentrations of hexachlorophane, probably derived from a toilet preparation used before admission to hospital. Hexachlorophane was absent or barely detectable in the other mothers' blood and in the infants' umbilical blood. The hexachlorophane concentrations in the blood of 8-day-old infants ranged from nil to 0.166 mug./ml. (mean 0.066 mug./ml.). These were much less than the concentrations reported to be toxic in animals.In a previous trial now reported here, a dusting powder containing chlorhexidine instead of hexachlorophane was found to delay the separation of the umbilical cord.

Faeces of healthy adults and of children under the age of 5, none of whom were attending hospital or receiving antibiotics, were examined for the presence of antibiotic resistant coliform bacilli.A higher proportion of children (67%) than of adults (46%) carried resistant strains and this difference was observed in both the rural and urban groups.Rural members of both age groups more often carried resistant organisms than urban members. Among rural adults, the incidence of drug-resistant strains was 63% in those whose occupation involved close contact with farm animals, compared with 29% in those with other occupations. The survey took place before the implementation of the Swann Report could have influenced the use of antibiotics in animal foodstuffs.Transmissible R-factors were demonstrated in 61% of the resistant strains. The incidence of transmissible resistance was similar among adults and children in town and country.