Acute infections of the upper part of the respiratory tract offer at the present time the most important medical problem for those who are caring for young infants in institutions as well as in pediatric wards of hospitals. Diarrheal diseases have been controlled in institutions and throughout the community. The mortality, which used to be highest in the summer, has now shifted to the winter and early spring months, the period of prevalence of infections of the upper part of the respiratory tract which are characterized by many complications including, besides pneumonia, otitis media, mastoiditis and pyuria. There is no doubt that the morbidity due to infections of the upper part of the respiratory tract in institutions housing infants has been not only great but appalling. An infection of this kind occurring in a ward acts like a contagious disease, reaching at times epidemic proportions. It is for this group