[The antistaphylococcal properties of plant extracts in relation to their prospective use as therapeutic and prophylactic formulations for the skin]. / Antistafilokokkovye svoistva nekotorykh ékstraktov rastenii v sviazi s perspektivoi ispol'zovaniia v lechebno-profilakticheskikh sostavakh dlia kozhi.

Antistaphylococcal activities of plant extracts (12 water alcohol glycerol, WAG, 6 water alcohol, WA, 8 alcohol glycerol, AG, extracts) towards reference strains and those isolated from patients with pyoinflammatory diseases of the skin were examined by diluting the preparations in solid media. The strains under study were 69 S. aureus, 44 S. epidermidis, and 2 S. saprophyticus ones. Fifteen plant extracts have shown antistaphylococcal activities. The most active were oak bark, sage and St. John's wort grass WAG extracts, horse radish root and leaf AG extracts, celandine grass WA extract; bur marigold and yarrow grass WA extracts were active towards S. aureus. S. aureus strains isolated from patients were found less sensitive to oak bark, German camomile flower WAG and celandine, bur marigold, and brewing waste WA extracts that the reference strains. S. epidermidis strains isolated from patients with acne rash were less sensitive to sweet flag rhizome WAG, celandine and brewing waste WA extracts that the reference strains. These data may be useful when developing compositions including plant extracts for patients with skin diseases.

[Sensitivity to antibiotics of pneumococci isolated from patients with chronic nonspecific pneumonia and bronchitis]. / Chuvstvitel'nost' k antibiotikam pnevmokokkov, vydelennykh ot bol'nykh khronicheskimi nespetsificheskimi pnevmoniiami i bronkhitami.

Four hundred and twenty two pneumococcal strains isolated from 300 patients with chronic nonspecific pneumonia and bronchitis were studied with respect to their sensitivity to 18 antibiotics within a period from 1982 to 1985. It was shown with the method of serial dilutions on solid media that 91.7, 87.8, 85 and 81 per cent of the isolates were sensitive to benzylpenicillin, ampicillin, lincomycin and cefuroxime, respectively. A significant percentage of the pneumococcal strains had decreased sensitivity to benzylpenicillin (MIC close to the therapeutic concentration). On this basis it was recommended to use lower concentrations of benzylpenicillin (less than 0.25 units/ml) in assay of sensitivity in clinical strains of Pneumococcus.

[The intensity and dynamics of the development of immunity in the administration of experimental corpuscular ozena vaccines]. / Napriazhennost' i dinamika razvitiia immuniteta pri vvedenii éksperimental'nykh ozenoznykh korpuskuliarnykh vaktsin.

Experiments on the active protection of mice from ozenous infection in its two forms, generalized (acute sepsis) and local (plantar infiltration), have demonstrated that immunity, induced by experimental heat-killed ozena vaccine (Klebsiella ozaenae strain 2211, antigens 02B:K4) introduced in a single injection, is characterized by sufficiently high intensity (the degree of protection increases up to 10,000-fold) and duration (at least 30 days). In both forms the development of immunity is characterized by a rapid rise of its intensity to the maximum level (achieved by the end of week 1), subsequent decrease by weeks 3-4 and disappearance by days 50-60 after immunization. Immunity becomes more intense with the increase of the number of injections if these injections are separated by sufficient intervals (up to 14 days). The optimum schedule used in the study of postvaccinal immunity to experimental generalized and local ozenous infection consists of the subcutaneous injection of K. ozaenae strain 2211 in a dose of 250-500 million microbial bodies per mouse with the subsequent challenge with the virulent strain on week 2 from the date of immunization.

[Immunogenicity of inactivated Klebsiella ozaenae cultures in relation to the properties and methods of culturing and preserving the initial strains]. / Immunogennost' inaktivirovannykh kul'tur Klebsiella ozaenae v zavisimosti ot svoistv, metodov kul'tivirovaniia i khraneniia iskhodnykh shtammov.

Experiments in the active protection of mice from generalized K. ozaenae infection have demonstrated that the heat-killed cultures of K. ozaenae capsular strains (antigens 02B : K4) possess pronounced and stable immunogenic properties, dependent on the presence and type of the capsular antigen and independent of the virulence and age of the initial strain, as well as the time and methods of its cultivation (the type of the culture medium: nutrient agar, glucose-mineral medium) and storage (the term of observation is 2 years). This investigation has resulted in the determination of the strain (2211) with the highest and most stable protective properties and in the selection of the optimum conditions for the immunization of mice (by the subcutaneous injection of 250 microbial bodies per mouse) with its heat-killed culture.