[Experimental study of measles immunity based on an index to neutrophil damage]. / Eksperimental'noe izuchenie korevogo immuniteta po pokazateliu povrezhdeniia neitrofilov.

Comparative studies for the elucidation of immunologic reactions in vaccination and infectious measles immunity were carried out. The delayed hypersensitivity was evaluated by the test of neutrophil alteration with the specific antigen according to V. N. Fradkin. The results indicate that the vaccine measles virus strain produces immunological alterations in animals accompanied by the development of sensitization to measles antigen. The observed alterations and changes in specific humoral immunity in experimental measles produced by a pathogenic virus are more manifest than those induced by the vaccine strain.

[Immunological reactivity of children vaccinated with a live measles vaccine]. / Immunologicheskaia reaktivnost' detei pri vaktsinatsii zhivoi korevoi vaktsinoi.

Immunologic responsiveness in measles vaccinal and infectious processes was studied by the neutrophil alteration test in 72 children varying in ages from 18 months to 4 years of whom 20 were in the acute period of measles infection and 52 vaccinated with live measles vaccine from the L-16 strain. The study showed that both in the infectious disease and vaccinal process cell-mediated immunologic responses and changes in the specific humoral immunity are dissimilar. In measles disease they are manifested earlier and more marked than in the vaccinal process where even 30 days post-vaccination cell-mediated responses are not as manifest and frequent as in convalescents despite nearly similar levels of humoral immunity.

[A comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of methods for serological sampling examinations]. / Sravnitel'naia otsenka éffektivnost' nekotorykh metodov vyborochnykh serologicheskikh obsledovanii.

Blood serum samples of 3,448 schoolchildren of grades 1-10 in 35 schools of Dushanbe were examined in the passive hemagglutination test in 1988 and 1989. The proportion of persons unprotected against diphtheria and tetanus was estimated by common methods in different kinds of selective serologic survey: mass screening (43.4-83.0%), testing in selected groups reduced 2, 3 and 5 times, cluster sampling. The reduction of the groups to be examined (from 3,033 to 250 persons) was not accompanied by essential changes (t < 2) in the characteristics of mass immunity against diphtheria and tetanus. The cluster method was shown to be highly reliable also in the study of population immunity.

[Macrophage transformation of mononuclear cells following primary and secondary experimental immunization with measles vaccine]. / Makrofagal'naia transformatsiia mononuklearov posle pervichnoi i vtorichnoi immunizatsii korevoi vaktsinoi v éksperimente.

Cell-mediated and humoral immune response was studied in guinea pigs receiving two immunizations with live measles vaccine l-16 in doses of 1000 TCD50/0.5 ml at an interval of 45 days. The results of this study showed that the maximum level of the macrophagal transformation of mononuclears and the most intensive synthesis of antimeasles antibodies were observed on day 10 after booster immunization. The intensification of cell-mediated and humoral immune response was found to depend on the initial immunological background. The animals having had high values of cell-mediated response before booster immunization showed a decrease in these values, while an increase in antibody titers in such animals was transitory.

[Several physiologic features of the body and their role in the process of vaccination against measles].

The work was carried out under conditions of mass measles immunization at the polyclincs of Moscow and Dushanbe. The role of the macroorganism at the time of vaccination on the measles vaccination process was investigated. A thorough study of the anamnesis, its allergic predisposition was conducted; blood and C-RB were examined, and the content of serum immunoglobulins was determined by Macini's method. The results obtained pointed to the insufficiently complete detection of children with an altered reactivity by a simple examination by the physician alone. It was revealed that children suffering from various forms of allergy having in the anamnesis hypotrophy rickets and frequent acute respiratory diseases and chronic foci of infections had decreased indice of nonsecific immunological reactivity even at the period of clinical well-being, and could be detected only by means of laboratory methods of study. To the administration of measles vaccine such children responded not only by the development of clinical reactions of different intensity, but also by a significant reduction of antibody formation. All the aforesaid indicates a necessity of further study of the mechanism of establishment of postvaccinal measles immunity with consideration to the individual reactivity of the child organism.

[Prevention of mumps in preschool institutions using a live mumps vaccine made from strain L-3]. / Profilaktika épidemicheskogo parotita v detskikh doshkol'nykh uchrezhdeniiakh zhivoi parotitnoi vaktsinoi iz shtamma L-3.

The effectiveness of the emergency vaccinal prophylaxis of epidemic parotitis was studied in 19 children's day-care centers. As revealed in this study, the immunological effectiveness of vaccination did not depend on the age of vaccinees, but sharply decreased if live parotitis vaccine contained less than 10,000 HADU50 per immunization dose. After a single administration of the vaccine 91.1 +/- 0.98% of children were found to produce mumps antibodies. The immunization of children with live parotitis vaccine prepared from strain l-3 immediately after the first case of parotitis had been registered proved to be a highly effective measure. The coefficient of epidemiological effectiveness was 96.4%.

[Epidemiologic surveillance of diphtheria and measles]. / Epidemiologicheskii nadzor za difteriei i kor'iu.

The epidemiological surveillance of diphtheria and measles makes it possible to evaluate the actual coverage of different groups of population with immunization and the state of this protection, to determine the tendencies of the epidemic processes of the afore-mentioned infections, to assess the efficacy of prophylactic and antiepidemic measures, and to develop well-grounded recommendations aimed at preventing the formation of foci of group infections and the lethal outcomes of diphtheria and measles.

[Immunostructure of school-age children inoculated against measles]. / Immunostruktura privitykh protiv kori detei shkol'nogo vozrasta.

The mass serological survey of school children immunized against measles was carried out by means of the hemagglutination inhibition test. As a result, 20.4% of these school children were found to be seronegative, and in 9.5% of them even the minimum concentration of measles antihemagglutinins (when titrated with 1 hemagglutinating unit of the antigen) was not detected. The accumulation of a considerable seronegative (measles-susceptible) stratum among children of school age occurred due to the low immunogenic potency of some batches of live measles vaccine, used for immunization in 1973, as well as due to the formerly practiced immunization of children under 1 year of age. A direct and close dependence of focal measles morbidity among immunized children having had contacts with the source of infection on the number of children among them, found to be seronegative after titration with 1 hemagglutination unit of measles antigen, was established.

[The results of an immunoepidemiological examination of foci of epidemic parotitis]. / Rezul'taty immunoépidemiologicheskogo obsledovaniia ochagov épidemicheskogo parotita.

The immunoepidemiological survey of 54 foci of epidemic parotitis showed that the epidemiological effectiveness index at preschool institutions, equal to 2.7, was essentially higher than at schools (2.1). The significant difference (t = 3.35) in the epidemiological effectiveness indices was due to the presence of a large number of persons having had inapparent and faintly pronounced forms of epidemic parotitis among school children, as well as due to more close contacts of children with the foci of infection at preschool institutions. The study showed that among children immunized with some lots of parotitis vaccine elevated morbidity in epidemic parotitis was registered. In the foci of infection children, immunized in the presence of low initial titers of specific hemagglutinins in their sera, responded by a booster effect with different duration of stimulation of antibody formation. The hemagglutinin titer of 1:20 was shown to protect children from epidemic parotitis.

[The dynamics of the T-lymphocyte subpopulations and the peroxidase activity of the neutrophils in children immunized with a live mumps vaccine]. / Dinamika subpopuliatsii T-limfotsitov i aktivnost' peroksidazy neitrofilov u detei, immunizirovannykh zhivoi parotitnoi vaktsinoi.

The amount of T-helpers and T-suppressors and the T-helper/T-suppressor ratio were determined in 30 practically healthy children aged 1.5-2 years, immunized with live parotitis vaccine prepared from strain -3. One immunization dose of the vaccine contained 7,950 HADU50. In all children peroxidase activity in the cytoplasm of neutrophils was studied. This investigation revealed that in all examined children the formation of immune response to immunization with live parotitis vaccine was accompanied by the development of an imbalance of immunoregulatory T-cell subpopulations and by functional changes in neutrophils, characterized by the inhibition of peroxidase activity. The changes revealed in this study were most pronounced in children with a high level of antibody formation.

[Antidiphtheria and antitetanus antitoxic immunity indices in the population of the Estonian SSR (an assessment of the effectiveness of a planned vaccine prophylaxis)]. / Pokazateli protivodifteriinogo i protivostolbniachnogo antitoksicheskogo immuniteta u naseleniia Estonskoi SSR (k otsenke éffektivnosti planovoi vaktsino-profilaktiki).

In 1972-1974 and 1977 in the Estonian SSR children and adults were surveyed for the presence of antibodies against tetanus and diphtheria toxins (toxoids) by means of the passive hemagglutination test. The level of protection against tetanus was revealed to correspond to the proportion of child population covered by vaccination: in 1977, with 98.8% covered by vaccination, the level of protection among children aged 7 to 14 years and adolescents of 15-19 years exceeded 98%; with the increase of age (every 10-15 years) the level of protection against tetanus regularly decreased. This dynamics correlated with the existing terms of postvaccinal immunity and the epidemiological independence of tetanus as infectiion. The level of protection in child population against diphtheria in 1972-1974 and 1977 lagged behind the level of protection against tetanus and the coverage by vaccination. The diphtheria component of adsorbed DPT vaccine seemed to be unable to ensure the sufficient level and intensity of immunity under conditions of a sharply decreased risk of encounter with the infective agent. In persons aged 40 years and over the indices of immunity against diphtheria were higher than against tetanus. These indices resulted from diphtheria infection at the prevaccination period and could serve as an objective sign in following up the decrease of the process of diphtheria epidemics.

[Immunoepidemiological observations on the duration of post-vaccinal immunity in children vaccinated against measles]. / Immuno-épidemiologicheskie nabliudeniia za dlitel'nost'iu postvaktsinal'nogo immuniteta u privitykh protiv kori detei.

In the course of 4 years the authors carried out an immunological and epidemiological observation over 4719 children which attended creches, kindergartens and schools, and were vaccinated with live measles vaccines L-16 and ASC in 1967--1972. A stable persistence of immunity was revealed in the majority of children vaccinated against measles which responded to the vaccination by the formation of humoral antibodies. Among these groups an insignificant number of persons with the appearance of measles sensitivity was noted during the observation period. The quality of the preparation, conditions of its storage, use, and different errors during the vaccination influenced the efficacy of the vaccination. Children immunized with the low-immunogenic series of the vaccine whose blood sera failed to display any specific antibodies in the reaction with 1 AU of the antigen, as a rule, were the ones that contracted the disease.

[Clinical and serologic diagnosis of measles in children vaccinated against the disease]. / O klinicheskoi i serologicheskoi diagnostike kori u privitykh protiv étoi infektsii detei.

At the period of mass immunization of children with live measles vaccine clinical symptoms of measles, their intensity and sequence apparently displayed some changes; therefore, serological diagnosis is more reliable in comparison with the clinical one. Result of serological study of 93 coupled blood sera of children who fell sick with the diagnosis of measles showed that only 54.3% of those vaccinated earlier and 49.2% of nonvaccinated children sustained measles, whereas the rest had had exanthematous disease of other etiology. All the children had fever (the majority not over 38.5 degrees C) and rash; other clinical signs of measles were of different intensity in the vaccinated and nonvaccinated children. Apparently such pathognomonic signs of measles as rash, Filatov's sports and conjunctivitis could not serve at present as a reliable criterion of clinical measles diagnosis. The majority of children vaccinated before who contracted the disease responded to the infection by an earlier and more intensive production of antibodies than nonvaccinated children who contracted the disease, this pointing to the possibility of manifestation in them of the clinically expressed booster-effect. The data obtained indicated a marked difficulty of clinical differential diagnosis of measles.

[Necessity of serologic confirmation of the clinical diagnosis of measles under conditions of massive vaccination]. / O neobkhodimosti serologicheskogo podtverzhdeniia klinicheskogo diagnoza kori v usloviiakh massovoi vaktsinoprofilaktiki.

Serological examination of 84 foci of measles infection demonstrated that measles diagnosis was confirmed only in 69% of the foci and in 75.9% of the sick individuals. This pointed to the difficulties in the differential diagnosis of measles and other exanthema diseases, and led to the overstatement of the recorded measles foci and cases, particularly among the vaccinated. Therefore, serological confirmation of clinical measles diagnosis is necessary along with epidemiological morbidity analysis at the period of mass immunoprophylaxis.

[Effectiveness of revaccination against measles]. / Ob éffektivnosti revaktsinatsii protiv kori.

The authors studied the efficacy of measles revaccination in children in whose serum no specific antihemagglutinins were revealed in titration with 1 GAE antigen (the first group) and having no specific antibodies in titration with 4 GAE antigen (the second group). Investigations demonstrated that children in whose blood serum no measles antibodies were revealed in the presence of 1 GAE antigen were subject of vaccination. Repeated vaccination used at present in persons who produced minimal antibody concentrations in response to vaccination is not recommended.

[Method of detecting persons needing reinoculations against measles]. / Metodika vyiavleniia lits, nuzhdaiushchikhsia v povtornykh privivkakh protiv kori.

The epidemiological analysis of 118 measles foci and the total morbidity rate in measles in the populated locality has been carried out. The admissible focal and morbidity levels in measles among vaccinated children have been established. The method of selecting groups in need of the repeated immunization against measles has been proposed. The authors state that only serological control in the hemagglutination inhibition test with the use of 1 hemagglutinating unit of the antigen can detect measles-susceptible groups.

[The cytochemical marking of lymphocyte subpopulations in determining the immunoreactivity status of children vaccinated with a live measles vaccine]. / Tsitokhimicheskaia markirovka subpopuliatsii limfotsitov pri opredelenii sostoianiia immunoreaktivnosti u detei, vaktsinirovannykh zhivoi korevoi vaktsinoi.

In 54 children aged 1.5-2 years, immunized with the same batch of live measles vaccine prepared from strain, the relative and absolute numbers of different lymphocyte subpopulations were determined in parallel by means of two cytochemical reactions: for acid alpha-naphthyl acetate esterase and acid phosphatase in their dynamics. According to the data obtained in these reactions, the determination of lymphocyte subpopulations by two cytochemical methods in the same blood sample yielded similar results indicating that immunization with attenuated measles virus strain induced a rise in the number or zero lymphocytes and was accompanied by the decrease of the immunoregulatory index (T-helper/T-suppressor ratio), most pronounced in children with a high level of antibody formation.

[The duration and intensity of measles immunity after a repeat inoculation against this infection]. / Dlitel'nost' i napriazhennost' immuniteta k kori posle povtornoi privivki protiv étoi infektsii.

Controlled study lasting 6 years showed that booster immunization against measles was highly effective in children remaining seronegative, i. e. susceptible to this infection, after primary immunization: E = 97.5 +/- 0.12% (K = 35.7). Annual serological examination of children given booster immunization revealed that 87.6% of initially seronegative children retained specific antihemagglutinins for 5.5 years (the term of observation). The effectiveness of booster immunization against measles did not depend on the age when primary immunization had been made.

[The duration and strength of postvaccinal measles immunity]. / Dlitel'nost' i napriazhennost' postvaktsinal'nogo protivokorevogo immuniteta.

A prolonged immunoepidemiological follow-up of a large group of children immunized against measles revealed a high epidemiological efficacy of a single vaccination. Cases of measles were registered only among those vaccinees in whose blood sera no specific hemagglutinins were detectable by titration with 4 hemagglutinating units of measles antigen prior to the disease. The study showed that groups of children seronegative with respect to measles appeared, as a rule, after unsatisfactory immunization and not due to loss of postvaccinal immunity with time. Properly immunized children in whom the formation of antimeasles antibodies had occurred in response to the injection of live measles vaccine retained postvaccinal immunity for more that 15 years (the term of observation).

[Measles morbidity among children inoculated against this infection]. / O zabolevaemosti kor'iu privitykh protiv étoi infektsii detei.

In the serological survey of 2009 children immunized against measles 285 children (14.2%) were found to be seronegative to this infection in the hemagglutination inhibition test with 4 hemagglutinating units of the antigen. Among 1724 immunized children showing positive response to vaccination and placed under dynamic observation for 11 years, 2 cases of measles were registered. At the same time, in the dynamic observation of 111 seronegative children 66 measles cases (59.5%) were registered during the above period, while among 169 children, also seronegative, but receiving booster immunization against measles, morbidity rate was only 1.2%. In some vaccinees the decrease of postvaccinal immunity to seronegative values was observed, but such decrease had no essential influence on the morbidity level among the vaccines. The increase of measles morbidity among schoolchildren immunized against this infection was due not to the decrease of their postvaccinal immunity, but to their concentration in schools and to their more intensive contacts with the sources of infection in comparison with children of preschool age.