Pathogenetic and functional characterization of lymphocytes in influenza patients.

The kinetics of acrocentric chromosome associations and chromosome aberrations in peripheral blood and pleural exudate lymphocytes has been studied in 25 influenza patients and 7 exudative pleurisy patients. Lymphocytes without associations and with 2 associated acrocentric chromosomes were activated in the body, since their frequency appeared to be positively correlated with the immunoresponsiveness indices and with clinical symptoms. The number of these lymphocytes in pleural exudate was 2.5 times higher than in the peripheral blood. When comparing the frequency of chromosome aberrations in the patients' lymphocytes to the level of immunity, cytogenetic changes corresponded to the indices of cellular rather than humoral immunity.

Polymorphism of human blood groups and incidence of influenza A/Hong Kong (H3N2).

During three epidemics of influenza A/Hong Kong (H3N2) and experimentally in vaccines, the relation between influenza infection and ABo, Rh and MN blood groups was studied. Examinations of 2760 patients with laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of influenza and 749 persons vaccinated with live influenza vaccine showed that individuals of blood groups O and B were susceptible to influenza 1.67 and 1.20 times more, respectively, than individuals of blood group A. The difference in incidence was most manifested in first attacks and decreased in subsequent epidemics. The increased incidence in individuals of blood groups O and B as compared to those of blood group A was not associated with factors of specific (antibody) and nonspecific (interferon) resistance to influenza but was related to a greater capacity of leukocytes from these individuals to adsorb the virus. No relation between blood groups Ph and MN and incidence of influenza A/Hong Kong (H3N2) was established.