[Ozone therapy for protracted pneumonias].

After 3 weeks or more of treatment, 36 patients who were found to have X-ray signs of pneumonia (pulmonary infiltrative changes, fever, productive cough, weakness) were randomized into two matched groups (a study group and a control one). 77.7 and 55% of control and study group patients changed and continued antibacterial therapy. The study group patients were additionally given intravenous infusions of 400 ml of ozonized sodium chloride solution (pO3) containing 1.6 microg/ml of O3 twice weakly for 21 days. Blood ozonization considerably accelerated the resolution time of X-ray infiltrative changes so that they were undetectable in all study group patients by week 4 while they were only in 61.1% of the control groups. Blood ozonization used in combination with antibiotics permitted caused a sputum negative reaction against Chlamydia and Mycoplasma 2-3 weeks earlier. Infusions of pO3 just after the first ozonization made it possible to eliminate a clinical sign of chronic infection, such as weakness, to accelerate productive cough relief on day 10, and to reduce the number of fever patients. Ozone therapy for protracted pneumonias substantially enhances the efficiency of antibiotic treatment.

[Reduced mycobacterial resistance to antituberculous drugs in the experiment and clinic: immediate and long-term results].

A suspension of multidrug resistant clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) strain, at a concentration of 1 x 10(8) microbes per ml, resistant to streptomycin (S), rifampicin (R), isoniazid (I), and kanamycin (K), was in vitro treated for 60 minutes with dissolved ozone (pO3) at a concentration of 0.5-4 microg/ml). Then it was placed in the Lowenstein-Jensen media containing various concentrations of S, I, R, and K. Following 3 months, drug susceptibility was determined by the number of cultured colonies and MBT was used to prepare a suspension at the same concentration, which was again treated with pO3 by the same procedure and placed to the media containing the drugs. A session was thrice repeated. After each pO3 treatment, MBT resistance to I decreased and it completely disappeared after triple treatment. Each pO3 treatment caused a reduction in MBT resistance to R, but it was high (640 microg/ml). After double pO3 treatment MBT resistance to S decreased, but it was recovered after its third ozone treatment. All pO3-untreated control cultures showed a growth of more than 100 colonies. Sixty-eight BALC/s mice were in vivo inoculated via intravenous injections of the clinical MBT strain resistant to S, I, R, and K. The mice were divided into 5 groups: 1) intact mice; 2) those inoculated and untreated; 3) those treated with 1; 4) those treated with I and peritoneally given pO3, 0.5-4 microg/ml); and 5) those given pO3. The animals began dying at month 4 of inoculation. By month 5, all mice, other than intact and pO3-treated ones, died. Passage of MBT from the month by month 4 showed a reduction in their resistance to I in the groups treated with pO3. When the mice were treated with I alone, damages to their livers and spleens were greater than when they were untreated. With co-administration of I and pO3, the damage was least. Treatment provoked a rapid change of MBT to granular and L-forms and MBT was undetectable in its typical form after 1-2-month therapy. The altered MBT formed an untypical histological pattern of tuberculous inflammation in mice in the presence of characteristic cellular cooperation. Clinical studies indicated that 1-6-month concurrent use of chemotherapy and pO3 in patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis eliminated drug resistance of isolated MBT to one of the drugs (I, R, K) in 97.3%, MBT became at once susceptible to I, R, and K in 47.2%. I and/or R were successfully used in the treatment of more than a third of the patients. The studies have demonstrated that most patients with drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis can be treated with the most effective drugs provided that systemic intravenous injection of pO3 is made.

[Use of dissolved ozone in the treatment of experimental tuberculosis in mice]. / Ispol'zovanie rastvorennogo ozona pri lechenii éksperimental'nogo tuberkuleza u myshei.

Sixty-eight BALB/c mice were infected with the intravenous injections of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT), a clinical strain resistant to streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin, and kanamycin. The mice were divided into 5 groups: Groups 1 and 2 were control (intact and infected without being treated, respectively). Group 3 mice were treated with isoniazid; Group 4 received isoniazid in combination with intraperitoneal dissolved ozone (pO3); and Group 5 was given pO3. The animals began to die at month 4 of infection. By month 5, mice died all, except for intact and pO3-treated ones. On inoculation of MBT from the lung, there was a reduction in isoniazid resistance in the pO3-treated groups. The lesion was least when isoniazid was used in combination with pO3. The mechanism responsible for that pO3 lowers drug resistance in MBT and whether it is expedient to co-administer isoniazid and pO3 in undetected drug resistance in MBT are under discussion.

[Changes in drug resistance of Mycobacteria in the simultaneous use of chemotherapy and intravenous infusions of dissolved ozone]. / Izmenenie lekarstvennoi ustoichivosti mikobakterii pri odnovremennom ispol'zovanii khimioterapii i vnutrivennykh infuzii rastvorennogo ozona.

The outcomes of treatment were analyzed in 56 patients with ever-progressive multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis who had been long isolating Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT). The patients were divided into 2 groups. In the study group (n = 36), 75% isolated MBT resistant to streptomycin (S), isoniazid (I), rifampicin (R), and kanamycin (K). In this connection, 41.7% of them received only 2 second-line antituberculous drugs and 27.8% took 3 drugs. The control group (n = 20) was comparable with the study group in the rate of bacterial isolation and in the drug resistance of the causative agent. In addition to chemotherapy (CT), dissolved ozone (pO3) was intravenously injected to the patients of the study group twice a week. They received a total of 12 to 55 infusions. Four-month addition of pO3 infusions to CT eliminated the resistance of isolated MBT to I and/or R. MBT became susceptible to I in 38.9% of the patients, R in 16.7%, and to K in 11.2%. By month 4, the isolated MBT became susceptible to I, R, and K in 47.2%. The mechanisms responsible for lowering drug resistance in MBT are discussed. The clinical example shows that patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis may be treated with first-line drugs provided that systemic intravenous injection of pO3 is performed.

[Dissolved ozone treatment-induced change in the resistance of multi-resistant mycobacterial strain to isoniazid and rifampicin]. / Izmenenie ustoichivosti k izoniazidu i rifampitsinu poliresistentnogo shtamma mikobakterii tuberkuleza posle obrabotki rastvorennym ozonom.

For 60 minutes, a mycobacterial (MBT) clinical strain resistant to streptomycin (S), rifampicin (R), isoniazid (I) was treated with dissolved ozone (PO3) at the concentration used for intravenous injection in the clinic. Then the strain was added to the Löwenstein-Jesen solid medium containing different concentrations of antituberculous agents. Following 3 weeks, drug sensitivity was determined by the number of grown colonies. Then MBT were retreated with PO3 in the same fashion, by repeating the cycle three times. At week 3, a growth of over 100 colonies was recorded in all control cultures. After each PO3 treatment of the strain, there was a reduction in its resistance to I and R. After triple treatment, MBT sensitivity to I completely recovered. In the R-containing media, there was also decrease in drug resistance, but the latter remained high (640 mu/ml). S resistance substantially lowered after the second PO3 treatment, but it restored after the third one. A mechanism responsible for lower MBT resistance to I and R under the action of "therapeutical" concentrations of PO3 is analyzed. The paper discusses whether MBT resistance can be changes at the phenotypic level rather that at the genetic one.

[Effectiveness of extracorporeal ultraviolet blood irradiation in treatment of chronic obstructive bronchitis in pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Effektivnost' ekstrakorporal'nogo ul'trafioletovogo oblucheniia krovi v lechenii khronicheskogo obstruktivnogo bronkhta pri tuberkuleze legkikh.

The use of extracorporeal ultraviolet blood irradiation (EXUVBR) in the complex treatment of patients with chronic forms of pulmonary tuberculosis (cavernous, fibrocavernous) concurrent with chronic obstructive bronchitis (COB) has demonstrated a positive effect of the photo-modified autoblood on the course of COB. The findings have suggested that the magnitude of clinical symptoms of COB was nearly halved, the forced expiratory volume per second increased, the counts of stab neutrophils and lymphocytes and erythrocyte sedimentation rate became normal. Analysing the bacterial isolation rate showed a significant decrease in the number of Mycobacteria tuberculosis detected by luminescence microscopy after a session of EXUVBR. The latter used in pulmonary tuberculosis concurrent with COB promotes the enhanced efficiency of treatment of patients with these combined abnormalities.

[Blood ozonation in the treatment of patients with progressive pulmonary tuberculosis concurrent with diabetes mellitus]. / Vozdeistvie ozonirovaniia krovi na techenie progressiruiushchego tuberkuleza legkikh u bol'nykh sakharnym diabetom.

Twenty nine patients with progressive pulmonary tuberculosis in the presence of diabetes mellitus were examined. Fifteen of them (a main group) had an additional course of intravenous dissolved ozone once 6-8 days (4 mg/ml per 400 ml of isotonic sodium chloride). By the end of month 2, 7 patients stopped massive bacterial expiration, which correlated with clinical improvement while a control group (n = 14) showed no clinical and laboratory changes. Following 3 months, 3 control patients stopped massive bacterial expiration. At month 6, 11 patients of the main group also did this, decay cavities became close in 8 patients while in the controls, these figures were 8 and 7, respectively. The use of systemic blood ozoning eliminated chemotherapy resistance and accelerated abacillation and healing in the decay cavities. The mechanism of action of dissolved ozone is discussed.

[Effectiveness of extracorporeal ultraviolet blood irradiation in patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis]. / Effektivnost' ékstrakorporal'nogo ul'trafioletovogo oblucheniia krovi bol'nykh khronicheskim obstruktivnym bronkhitom.

The use of extracorporeal ultraviolet blood radiation (EUVBR) in the treatment of 67 patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis (COB) showed some specific features of the clinical course of bacterial complications of the basic process. With EUVBR, most patients exhibited normal temperatures, less signs of intoxication and coughing, and rare rale in the lung than in the controls. A most objective criterion for the efficiency of EUVBR was a marked increase in the forced expiratory volume per sec after the first 3 procedures, which improved the patients' condition, diminished exercise-induced dyspnea. The hemogram of the patients undergone EUVBR in combination with antibiotic therapy indicated a substantial drop in erythrocyte sedimentation rates following the first 3 procedures. The growth of pathogenic and opportunistic microbes from the sputum showed a great (10-fold) reduction when EUVBR and antibiotic therapy were concurrently used. The findings suggest that EUVBR has high therapeutical benefits in the treatment of COB.

[The immunomodulating action of cyclosporin A in vitro and in vivo on the lymphocytes of patients with alveolitis]. / Immunomoduliruiushchee deistvie tsiklosporina A in vitro i in vivo na limfotsity bol'nykh al'veolitami.

The paper presents the first results of using cyclosporin A (CsA) to treat lymphocytes during their extracorporeal immunomodulation (EIL) in patient with fibrotic alveolitis of various etiology. Two-hour lymphocytic incubation in the medium containing 0.1-10 micrograms per ml of CsA was sufficient for CsA to show its in vitro immunosuppressive effect, which resulted in a substantial inhibition of a proliferative lymphocytic response to mitogens and antigens. Administration of CsA-treated lymphocytes induced no profound structural changes in lymphocytic subpopulations (CD3, CD4, CD8), but it was followed by a reduction in the baseline high proliferative lymphocytic response to PHA. The clinical effect, alveolitis alleviation was noted in all patients. It is suggested that clinical effects may be produced by a local concentration of the treated lymphocytes and their transferred CsA as well.

[The use of an ozonized sorbent in treating patients with progressive pulmonary tuberculosis combined with hepatitis]. / Ispol'zovanie ozonirovannogo sorbenta v lechenii bol'nykh progressiruiushchim tuberkulezom legkikh v sochetanii s gepatitom.

After analyzing comparative data on various treatments for progressive pulmonary tuberculosis combined with hepatitis, it is inferred that ozonized sorbent hemocarboperfusions are effective modality against the above condition. Ozone does not activate lipid peroxidation in blood, while it might activate electrochemical blood oxidation on the sorbent membrane and produce a direct therapeutic effect on hepatocytes.