[In vitro activity of a new glycopeptide antibiotic eremomycin in relation to obligate anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria]. / Aktivnost' in vitro novogo glikopeptidnogo antibiotika éremomitsina v otnoshenii obligantnykh anaérobnykh gram- polozhitel'nykh bakterii.

Antibacterial activity of eremomycin, a novel glycopeptide antibiotic, against obligate anaerobic Gram-positive++ bacteria was studied. Eremomycin was shown to inhibit the growth of obligate anaerobic Gram-positive++ cocci and bacteria belonging to Clostridium in rather low concentrations and within narrow ranges of the MIC which was indicative of the antibiotic undoubted advantages. The antibacterial activity of eremomycin was 2 times as high as that of vancomycin and 8 times as high as that of ristomycin with respect to Gram-positive++ anaerobic cocci. Pathogenic strains of Clostridium spp. were 2 to 4 times more sensitive to eremomycin than to vancomycin. A significant property of the novel glycopeptide antibiotic was shown to be its capacity for inhibiting the growth of Gram-positive++ aerobic and obligate anaerobic cocci within the same concentration ranges which might be of importance in monotherapy of mixed aerobic and anaerobic infections.

[Sensitivity of the main causative agents of gas gangrene to currently available antibacterial drugs]. / Spektr chuvstvitel'nosti osnovnykh vozbuditelei gazovoi gangreny k sovremennym antibakterial'nym preparatam.

Sensitivity of the main microbial species causing gas gangrene to 21 antibacterial drugs was studied. The pathogens included 28 strains of Clostridium perfringens, 21 strains of C. oedematiens, 31 strains of C. septicum and 19 strains of C. histolyticum. Antibiotics having a bactericidal effect on the Clostridia were determined. The findings of the study were indicative of a variety of the antibiotic sensitivity spectra of the Clostridium spp., which accentuated the importance of antibiotic sensitivity assay in every particular case of gas gangrene.

[Methodological approaches to the rapid determination of the sensitivity of the causative agent of gas gangrene to antibiotics]. / Metodicheskie podkhody dlia uskorennogo opredeleniia antibiotikochuvstvitel'nosti vozbuditelei gazovoi gangreny.

The results of the studies on development of a rapid assay of antibiotic sensitivity of gas gangrene causative agents with their high nutrient requirements under obligatory anaerobiosis are summarized. The data on development of a uniform standard nutrient medium with the use of dry components made in the USSR are presented for the first time. The medium is intended for rapid assay of antibiotic sensitivity of the main causative agents of gas gangrene, i.e. C. perfringens, C. oedematiens, C. histolyticum and C. septicum.

[Antigenic interrelations within the species Clostridium novyi, C. histolyticum and C. septicum as a basis for developing an immunofluorescence method]. / Antigennye vzaimootnosheniia vnutri vidov Clostridium novyi, C. histolyticum, C. septicum kak osnova razrabotki immunofliuorestsentnogo metoda.

The cellular and antigenic interrelations within each Clostridium species have been studied with a view to the selection of strains for the preparation of specific rabbit antisera possessing a wide serological spectrum of action within the species. The indirect immunofluorescence test making it possible to determine the species of clostridia in native pathological material from wounds or in cultures, subjected to short-term incubation, within 1-1.5 hours has been developed. This test can be used in laboratory practice for the diagnosis of gas gangrene in humans, as well as for the identification of pathogenic clostridia.

[Development of an accelerated method of determining the antibiotic sensitivity of Cl. perfringens type A]. / Razrabotka uskorennogo metoda opredeleniia chuvstvitel'nosti k antibiotikam Cl. perfringens tipa A.

An express method for determination of antibiotic sensitivity in the strains of Cl. perfringens of type A using Soviet dry nutrient media and antibiotics is proposed. The criteria for estimation of the level of the antibiotic sensitivity of the causative agent of gas gangrene in short periods on the basis of comparison of the data of the antibiotic agar diffusion procedure and the antibiotic MIC were worked out. Twelve antibiotics and 45 collection strains of Cl. perfringens of type A were used in the experiment. The antibiotic agar diffusion method with the use of the nutrient media, microbial load and cultivation conditions developed by the authors is recommended for tentative determination of the antibiotic sensitivity in Cl. perfringens of type A for 4 hours. The use of the agar diffusion method and determination of the antibiotic MIC provided complete estimation of tha antibiotic sensitivity of Cl. perfringens of type A within not more than 24 hours.

[Biological properties of Cl. perfringens type A, isolated from human subjects inhabiting a hermetic chamber]. / Issledovanie biologicheskikh svoistv Cl. perfringens tipa A, vydelennykh u liudei v usloviiakh prebyvaniia ikh v germeticheskoi kamere

This paper gives the results of quantifying and studying the biological properties of Cl. perfringens strains isolated from feces of test subjects kept in an enclosure for 34 days. During the experiment the total number of Cl. perfringens increased. It was especially true of the strains with an elevated toxigenic activity. This activity correlated with an increase of the titer of alpha-hemolysines and proteolytic enzymes.

[Serologic properties of strains of Cl. perfringens isolated from the intestinal contents of healthy subjects]. / Izuchenie serologicheskikh svoistv shtammov Cl. perfringens, vydelennykh iz kishechnogo soderzhimogo zdorovykh liudei

A study was made of the quantitative content in the intestine of C1. perfringens strains in 6 healthy persons who stayed in a hermetically sealed space for 1 month and for 1 year. C1. perfingens strains were isolated from the fecal samples of each of the volunteers at various periods of the trial. A total of 570 strains of C1. perfringens of type A with anticellular sera obtained to the strains of various serological groups were studied. Serological properties of C1. perfringens strains of type A present in the intestinal contents of man were nonhomogeneous. This pointed to the simultaneous presence in the intestine of strains belonging to several serological types. A partial or complete replacement of one strain by another (differing by serological properties) occurred in the course of not over one month. C1. perfringens strains of type A present in the intestine of each volunteer were subdivided into serological types individual for each of the persons under observation. This pointed to the fact than no interexchange of strains of the mentioned bacteria occurred between different persons in the hermetically sealed space.

[Morphologic changes in cultures of different tissues exposed to the toxins of C1. perfringens types B, C, E and F]. / Morfologicheskie ezmeneniia v kul'turakh razlichnykh tkanei pri deistvii toksinov C1. perfringens tipov B, C, E i F

There were revealed morphological peculiarities of the action of C1. perfringens toxins, types B, C, D, E and F on the cultures of fibroblasts of chick embryo, amniotic cells and intestinal tissue. The toxin type B was characterized by a marked vocuolization of the cell cytoplasm; the action of the toxin of type C was expressed in the swelling of the nuclei and the lysis of the chromatine substance, the toxin of type E casued kariorhexis, and the toxin of type F--hyperchromatosis of the nuclei. All the cultures proved to be insensitive to the toxin of type D. Peculiarity of the morphological affection of the cells permitted to differentiate toxin of type B in the cultures of the fibroblasts of chick embryo, whereas the toxins of types C, E and F--in the cultures of the amniotic cells under control of the reaction of neutralization with the homologous antitoxic sera.