Antibiotic resistant coryneforms (group JK) have increasingly been reported as causes of serious sepsis in the immunosuppressed and in patients with implants. Their cultural and biochemical characteristics were examined in an attempt to provide a simple scheme for their recognition in the clinical laboratory. Their susceptibilities to a range of antimicrobials were determined, and an enriched s...

ii DEDICATION To M. and D., for making me who I am today. iii If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done. There's no ulterior practical purpose here. I'm just playing. That's what math is – wondering, playing, amusing yourself with your imagination.

A total of 119 isolates of Edwardsiella ictaluri collected over the last 7 years from several states were biochemically characterized. Although not very reactive biochemically, this bacterium shows a high degree of homogeneity. Differences were found only in the production of gas from formate or from glucose at 37C and in the production of hydrogen sulfide as detected by lead acetate paper. Ana...