A practical system of bacterial nomenclature.

It is unlikely that any serious attempt will be made to standardize bacterial nomenclature on a national or international scale until the implementation of the proposed revision of the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria on 1 January 1980. In the meantime, the lack of such standardization poses major problems in communication between the laboratory and the clinican and also causes difficulties in the latter's reading of the bacteriology literature. The present communication proposes interim regional voluntary standardization of bacterial nomenclature as a solution, and outlines a system of nomenclature which could be used on such a regional basis. The system is specifically designed to demonstrate clearly the relationships between bacteria.