[Characteristics of the immune status in specific and nonspecific prophylaxis of influenza in elderly persons].

The results of the comparative analysis of the immunological effectiveness of the anti-influenza vaccine Vaxigrip, the inferferon inductor Arbidol and their combination in 125 elderly persons are presented. In the process of investigations the immunomodulating activity of the preparations under study was noted; this activity was manifested by the increase of the absolute and relative number of cells, carrying markers CD3+, CD4+ and CD16+, but not CD8+, CD19+ and CD25+, the normalization of the immunoregulatory index and the stimulation of the phagocytic function in the absence of essential influence on the level of HLA-DR+ expression and the concentration of immunoglobulins of the main classes. An increase in the frequency of seroconversions and the multiplicity of growth in the titers of specific antibodies to influenza viruses A (H1N1 and H3N2) and B, most pronounced in persons immunized with the vaccine simulianeouslywith the injection of Arbidol, was established.

[Evaluation of amyxin effect in prophylaxis of acute respiratory viral infections]. / Otsenka profilakticheskogo éffekta amiksina v otnoshenii ostrykh respiratornykh virusnykh infektsii.

The results of the evaluation of the oral inductor of endogenic interferon (amyxin), manufactured in Russia are presented. The use of amyxin was found to produce a drop in morbidity in acute respiratory virus infections (ARVI) among medical workers 3.4 times, i.e. the preparation exhibited a pronounced prophylactic effect with respect to ARVI. The use of the preparation was accompanied by a decrease in the number of manifest forms of ARVI. Persons given the preparation often had ARVI in a mild or asymptomatic form.

[The clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of diphtheria in adults]. / Klinicheskie proiavleniia, diagnostika i lechenie difterii u vzroslykh.

Diphtheria morbidity among adult population of Moscow is growing. The tests of different modes and schemes of heterogeneous antidiphtheria serum administration have found out that the highest efficacy of serotherapy was achieved with a single intravenous dose. Another treatment of diphtheria is hemosorption. Widely used in present-day clinical practice hemosorbents provide adequate elimination of the toxin from plasma. The authors analyse the present situation in clinical symptoms, complications, lethality of diphtheria basing on the data provided by S. P. Botkin's Hospital.

[The seroepidemiological aspects of respiratory diseases and the prospects for their prevention in organized children's sanatorium-type collectives]. / Seroépidemiologicheskie aspekty respiratornykh zabolevanii i perspektivy ikh profilaktiki v detskikh organizovannykh kollektivakh sanatornogo tipa.

68 children aged 3-7 years, undergoing general sanative treatment in a bronchopulmonary sanatorium in the vicinity of Moscow between November 10 and December 29, 1990, were examined. During the stay of these children in the sanatorium cases of respiratory diseases, mainly of parainfluenza etiology, were registered, which was confirmed by serological laboratory studies. At this season no cases of Legionella and Mycoplasma infections were detected. The necessity of taking prophylactic measures with the use of reaferon and lysozyme in sanative groups of children in due time, starting from the first day of the formation of such group, was substantiated.

[Clinical picture and treatment of Legionella pneumonia in children]. / Klinicheskaia kartina i lechenie legionelleznoi pnevmonii u detei.

Data on the clinical and laboratory study involving 150 children with the verified diagnosis of pneumonia observed as inpatients within a period from 1984 to 1988 are presented. To elucidate the pneumonia etiology, blood sera to the causative agents of influenza and parainfluenza, adenovirus, RS virus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila were assayed. An increase in the number of neutralizing antibodies to L. pneumophila was observed in 17.3 per cent of the patients. The majority of them simultaneously showed positive serological shifts with respect to the respiratory viruses. A specific clinical picture of pneumonia in the patients with the confirmed legionella infection was stated. The description of the treatment results is retrospective.

[Legionella infections in children]. / Legionelleznaia infektsiia u detei.

The authors provide the results of observing 150 patients with acute pneumonia verified on x-ray. Comprehensive serological studies enabled the legionellosis etiology of pneumonia to be established in 17.3% of cases in sporadic morbidity of children. The disease was marked by the peculiarity of the clinical manifestations, demanding nonstandard treatment approaches.

[Legionellosis in meat-packing combines of the Lithuanian SSR]. / Legionellez na miasokombinatakh Litovskoi SSR.

The article presents the results of a study of Legionella pneumophila morbidity in Lithuanian meat-processing factory workers, as well as the specific position of legionellosis in the fever diseases structure among the workers of the industry. The technique showed that Legionella pneumophila 1st serogroup seropositive reaction was traced among the healthy workers in 0.2% (antibody titer 1:64). Rather high percentage (7.1%) of persons with specific antibodies was found among those who had suffered the fever disease 6 month before the examination. Among 191 fever patients examined, in 35 (18.3%) cases antibodies against L. pneumophila were detected in diagnostic titers. In 26 workers legionellosis was diagnosed as a result of serologic testing, and Pontiac fever cases were predominant. 1 case was subsequently followed by pneumonia. A chronic nature of epidemic manifestations of legionellosis was established. The pathogenic antigen was detected in 4 of 32 water samples taken from the factory water pipes.

[Immune structure of the population in some regions of the USSR with respect to Legionella pneumophila]. / Immunostruktura naseleniia nekotorykh raionov SSSR k Legionella pneumophila.

For the first time in the USSR the structure of the immunity of different population groups to L. pneumophila was studied. Antibodies to L. pneumophila were detected in the passive hemagglutination test with the use of erythrocyte diagnosticum prepared at the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (Moscow). The survey covered the total number of 2,902 persons in differ nt regions of the USSR, among them 2,430 adults and 472 children. Among the healthy adult population antibodies to L. pneumophila were detected, on the average, in 5.9% of persons. The highest number of persons with antibodies in diagnostic titers was detected among the population of the Baltic Republics (15.9%) and Kazakhstan (10.2%). The survey revealed an essential difference in the number of children aged 3-7 years, found to have antibodies to L. pneumophila, in the Brest region of the Byelorussian SSR (31.4%) and in the Turkmen SSR (1.3%). The high risk groups exposed to L. pneumophila infection were found to include narcological patients with the changed reactivity of the body and healthy adults professionally employed in earth-moving works.

[Streptococcus pneumoniae interaction with continuous human cell lines]. / Vzaimodeistvie Streptococcus pneumoniae s perevivaemymi liniiami kletok cheloveka.

The in vitro model of pneumococcal infection, using continuous mammalian cell lines, is proposed. Two different types of interaction between bacteria and eucaryotic cells are described: the intracellular ingestion of bacteria or their proliferation on the surface of the cellular monolayer, these different types of interaction being characteristic of different cell lines. In case of the proliferation of bacteria on the surface of the monolayer the forms, morphologically similar to the stages of microbial L-transformation, have been detected.

[Comparative study of the behavior of capsular and noncapsular pneumococcus variants in the L929 cell culture]. / Sravnitel'noe izuchenie povedeniia kapsul'nogo i beskapsul'nogo variantov pnevmokokka v kletochnoi kul'ture L929.

The comparative study of the behavior of the capsular and noncapsular variants of pneumococci, serotype 27, in culture L929 revealed that under the conditions of the experiment both variants showed the same capacity for adhesion, but the capsular variant had a stronger cytopathic effect which was retained after subculturing the infective material in the cell culture. The possibility of isolating the noncapsular variant of pneumococci from culture L929 on a solid nutrient medium lasted only 9 hours, while the capsular variant could be isolated during the whole experiment. The noncapsular variant showed greater sensitivity to the action of penicillin and more pronounced capacity for L-transformation in vitro than the capsular one.