NECROTIZING INFECTIONS CAUSED BY GRAM-POSITIVE BACTERIA - A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

Dennis Stevens is chief of the infectious Diseases Section at the Vete rans Affairs Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, and professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, Washin gton. A major portion of his career has been devoted to the study of b acterial toxins and the role they play in the pathogenesis of gram-pos itive infections. The past 10 years have been devoted to elucidation o f the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, pathogenesis, and treatm ent of clostridial gas gangrene and group A streptococcal necrotizing fasciitis.