[The specific features of a pathogen in acutely progressive pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Osobennosti vozbuditelia pri ostro progressiruiushchem tuberkuleze legkikh.

Examination of 318 patients with different forms of acutely progressive pulmonary tuberculosis (APPT) revealed massive bacterial isolation in 181 patients of them. In one fourth of the patients, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) colonies grew during a month; the mean growth duration was 38.3 +/- 12.7 days, which was indicative of the viability of Mycobacteria and of their high virulence if they were isolated in large amounts. A hundred and thirty-three patients were found to be drug-resistant, which is one of the characteristics of present-day APPT. Such patients more frequently developed multidrug resistance. Sixty-three patients were ascertained to have secondary drug resistance, of them 41 patients were found to have drug resistance that progressed during APPT therapy.

[Endocrinological parameters of patients with acute progressive pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Pokazateli éndokrinnogo statusa u bol'nykh ostro progressiruiushchim tuberkulezom legkikh.

Examining the levels of the hormones insulin and cortisole that play a significant role in nonspecific protection in tuberculosis indicates the heterodirectional pattern of changes in endocrinological parameters in relation to the clinical form of acute progressive tuberculosis. In drug-treated patients with caseous pneumonia, the high level of cortisole decreased and the content of insulin reached the lower normal range with 18.2% of cases having hypoinsulinemia. Patients with disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis had an inversely proportion ratio of the hormones, which reflected the specific features of acute progression of this clinical form. In acute progressive infiltrative tuberculosis, the levels of cortisole and insulin significantly increased during chemotherapy. Nevertheless, whatever changes were observed in hormonal levels, variations in the parameters indicate the long-term activity of specific inflammation in acute progressive pulmonary tuberculosis.

[Characteristics of pneumonia in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Osobennosti techeniia pnevmonii u bol'nykh tuberkulezom legkikh.

In healed tuberculosis, pneumonia more frequently arises in the zones of pronounced residual changes. In active tuberculosis combination of tuberculosis with pneumonia often takes place in intact bronchopulmonary segments. Pneumonia in tuberculous patients takes a lingering course in the presence of pneumosclerotic changes in the lungs, tends to acquire bronchial forms, is characterized by slow involution of inflammation, runs atypically in combination of pneumosclerotic changes in the lungs, bronchial stenoses and abnormal cell composition of bronchoalveolar washout. The diagnosis and treatment present difficulties in pneumonia location in the zone of distinct post-tuberculous pneumosclerosis with small segmental lesion. Resolution of inflammatory foci in the lungs in lingering pneumonia may course as long as 8-10 weeks.

[Tuberculosis and pneumonia]. / Tuberkulez i pnevmonia.

Analysis of the clinical course of acute pneumonia in pulmonary tuberculosis patients is presented. The lowest rate of acute pneumonia morbidity was found in patients with active tuberculosis during antituberculosis therapy. As soon as the specific process subsides and its activity diminishes acute pneumonia morbidity grows. Specific features of the course of acute pneumonia in patients with different phases of tuberculosis development are shown. Data on the study of liquid-crystal thermography are presented as well as the assessment of the capillary blood flow and the results of immunologic study in the presence of combined pathology. The terms of alleviation of acute pneumonia in tuberculosis patients are delayed, especially in inflammation development in the zones of post-tuberculosis changes.

[Causes of formation of destructive tuberculosis of the lungs]. / Prichiny formirovaniia destruktivnogo tuberkuleza legkikh.

It was shown that irregular fluorographic examinations, undetected pathological processes on fluorograms and their erroneous interpretation were the causes of destructive tuberculosis of the lung. Early detection of tuberculosis was hampered by prior nonspecific diseases of the respiratory organs and underestimation of the process activity especially when chronic bronchopulmonary diseases were associated with residual signs of cured tuberculosis. Recommendations for prophylaxis of destructive tuberculosis of the lung are presented.

[Correction of the T immunological system deficit in experimental and clinical tuberculosis]. / Corectarea deficitului sistemului imunitar T în tuberculoza experimentala si clinica.

Thymus grafts, in semi-permeable chambers, from 7-10 day old white rats to guinea-pigs infected with M. tuberculosis, or to white rats that had underwent thymectomy and had been infected, is accompanied by a considerable decrease in the severity of the tuberculous process. A similar effect is obtained by the subcutaneous injection of a thymus preparation called Timalin. The addition to etiotropic therapy of the immunostimulant Levamisole in amounts of 2,5 mg/kg of body weight in white rats, and of 25 mg/kg of body weight in guinea-pigs, three times during a decade significantly enhanced the effect of the conventional therapy. Levamisole, when included in the complex therapy of tuberculosis patients (three times during a decade), accelerated the detoxification process, and the recovery of recent destructive lesions in the lung. In animals and in patients Levamisole increases the low activity of the T-lymphocytes immune system, as is indicated by data obtained with the leucocyte migration inhibition test, and with the rosette-formation test.

[Experience in the centralized management of the antitubercular network in a city with a population of several million inhabitants under conditions of decreased tuberculous infections]. / Experienta conducerii centralizate a retelei antituberculoase într-un oras cu o populatie de mai multe milioane de locuitori, în conditiile scaderii infectiei tuberculoase.

The authors make a detailed description of the organization of detection and dispensarization of cases with pulmonary tuberculosis, as well as of extrapulmonary forms of the diseases in the city of Leningrad. The training is described, of the base network, as well as of highly specialized personnel from the research and teaching departments, and its involvement in this type of activity. As a result of the application of this method for several years, a significant reduction was noted in the incidence and the prevalence of tuberculosis in the area of the city of Leningrad.