[Content of some pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in blood sera of leptospirosis patients].

AIM: Study the content of some pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in blood sera of leptospirosis patients in dynamics of infectious process and the role of these cytokines in the disease immunopathogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The content of cytokines in blood sera was determined by a method based on xMAP technology with a standard panel consisting of 9 analytes: TNF-α, MCP-1, IL-8, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-1Ra, IL-12 (p70), IFN-γ. RESULTS: A significantly increased level of IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α was confirmed and the increased content of MCP-1 in leptospirosis patients compared with practically healthy donors was established for the first time. Correlations between cytokines during leptospirosis were detected. CONCLUSION: The data obtained show that cytokines play an important role in leptospirosis immunopathogenesis.

[Development of PCR test system based on colA gene for detection of leptospirae in clinical material].

AIM: Development of primers for the detection of leptospirae in clinical material including urine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study of specificity and sensitivity of primers complementary to colA gene in standard PCR by using DNA preparation of cultures of pathogenic and saprophytic leptospirae, biological materials from healthy humans and dogs, including contaminated with pathogenic leptospirae culture. RESULTS: Specific interaction of these primers with DNA of pathogenic leptospirae of 14 serogroups was established. Sensitivity of the technique was 50 cells in 1 ml of sample. CONCLUSION: The primers described fulfill the requirements for the sensitivity and specificity and can be recommended for the detection of leptospirae in both serum and urine.

[Secondary leptospirosis].

The author describes cases of secondary leptospirosis. Secondary infection with leptospiras occurred in patients with concomitant pathology. In connection with occupational activity or life-style the patients got infected from Rattus norvegicus.

[Leptospira infection under the natural conditions of the environs of Saint Petersburg]. / Leptospiroznaia infektsiia v prirodnykh usloviiakh okrestnostei Sankt-Peterburga.

The existence of valent natural foci of leptospirosis, stable and polyhostal, under the conditions of urban agglomerations has been established. In an intensively urbanized landscape, the foci of mixed (natural and anthropic) type can be found. Depending on the character of microlandscape in a given zone, the main hosts of leptospires are different species of small mammals in whose populations, as a rule, the circulation of at least three Leptospira species is observed. Introduction of the 'carriership index' will help determine the role of different species of small mammals as the potential source of leptospires in the foci, as well as the proportion of different circulating Leptospira species and their zonal distribution.

[Antigenic structure of leptospires of the Canicola serogroup isolated in the north-western regions of the RSFSR]. / Kharakteristika antigennoi struktury leptospir serogruppy Canicola, vydelennykh na severo-zapade RSFSR.

The comparative study of 16 Leptospira cultures, serogroup Canicola, isolated from humans and animals in different years in the North-West of the RSFSR and 2 reference strains of the Canicola serovar, Hond Utrecht IV and Kashirsky, was carried out in the agglutinin cross-adsorption tests. The absence of the antigenic homogeneity of the cultures under test was established: 9 of them proved to be identical to strain Kashirsky and 7, to strain Hond Utrecht IV.

[Clinico-morphological characteristics of leptospirosis]. / Kliniko-morfologicheskaia kharakteristika leptospiroza.

Observations in 5 patients dying with leptospirosis (at 6-30 days after the onset) caused by leptospira of the Hebdomadis serogroup are described. Bright jaundice developed due to severe serous liver centrilobular edema with pronounced dissociation of the liver cell bands, cholestasis, and cloudy swelling of hepatocytes. Albuminuria, oliguria, and uraemia were caused by acute tubular and interstitial nephritis. Hemorrhagic diathesis with small bleedings in the skin, mucous and serous membranes was associated with the impairment of permeability of microcirculatory vessels. Focal necroses of skeletal muscles, myocardiodystrophy, and focal myocarditis, serous leptomeningitis were also seen. Few leptospirae could be detected extracellularly (often attached to the outer host cell membranes) by Warthin-Starry's method of silver impregnation of paraffin sections and by indirect immunofluorescence, much more rarely could they be demonstrated by Levaditi's method of silver impregnation of pieces of the viscera. Most leptospirae were present in the liver in the case of death on the 6th day when no antibodies were yet present in the blood. Since the 9th day when the antibodies did appear, leptospirae gradually disappeared from the liver and were found in the kidneys. It is suggested that some leptospiral cytotoxic products play a role in the pathogenesis of leptospirosis.

[Nature of the antibodies in persons inoculated with a leptospirosis vaccine]. / Priroda antitel u liudei, privitykh leptospiroznoi vaktsinoi.

The results obtained in the study of the intensity and character of immunity in persons immunized with commercial leptospirosis vaccine are presented. These results indicate that antibody formation occurs only in 12.5% of the vaccinees; antibodies are not formed to all Leptospira strains contained in the vaccine, and in 6 months all antibodies completely disappear. In persons immunized with a single vaccine dose the agglutinating activity of blood sera was linked only with IgM. In persons subjected to multiple immunizations for a number of years IgG could also be detected. Cases of leptospirosis among vaccinees have been registered.