[The distribution of leptospirae in the icterohaemorrhagiae serogroup]. / Raspredelenie leptospir serogruppy icterohaemorrhagiae.

The capacity of leptospiras to get acclimated in the organism of unusual hosts has been studied. Cultures of Icterohaemorrhagiae from musquashes, house mice and field voles have been isolated of leptospirosis sources under intensive epizootics among rats. A possibility to reproduce Leptospira carrying by the cultures of leptospirae of serogroup icterohaemorrhagiae in musquashes and water voles has been shown. One can conclude that under icterohemorrhagic leptospirosis musquashes and water voles can take the part of additional source of infection but they cannot independently preserve leptospirae in nature as a biological species grey rats being their main hosts.

[The connection of the antigenic activity of Leptospira to its virulence]. / Sviaz' antigennoi aktivnosti leptospir s ikh virulentnost'iu.

Virulence of Leptospira cultures isolated in leptospirosis centres of different regions of Ukraine has been studied. It is shown that certain strains of leptospiras with high virulence several times exceed in their antigenic activity the standard strains and their introduction into the set of strains for the reaction of microagglutination and use for making diagnostic and, probably, prophylactic preparations are promising.

[A comparative evaluation of the sensitivity of different methods for the serological diagnosis of leptospirosis]. / Sravnitel'naia otsenka chuvstvitel'nosti razlichnykh metodov serologichicheskoi diagnostiki leptospiroza.

In this work the comparative evaluation of the sensitivity and serological specificity of the microcapsular agglutination (MCA) test, the passive hemagglutination (PHA) test and the microagglutination (MA) test are presented. In the MCA test leptospiral antigens, adsorbed on synthetic carrier capsules produced by Japan Lyophilization Laboratory, were used and the PHA test was made with the use of polyvalent erythrocyte diagnosticum. The study of blood serum samples from 46 leptospirosis patients revealed that the values of antibody titers in the PHA and MCA tests were 5.5-8.1 times higher than the traditional MA test. In the MCA and PHA tests antileptospiral antibodies could be detected as early as on days 1-3 of the disease when the results of the MA test were negative or very low. The maximum values of antibody titers in the MCA and PHA tests were detected on days 11-15 of the disease and in the MA test, on days 21-25. The MCA and PHA tests are genus-specific and permit the detection of antileptospiral antibodies irrespective of the serogroup of the infective agent. In the study of the blood sera of 40 patients with diseases of nonleptospiral etiology the MCA and MA tests yielded false positive results in 7.5% and the PHA test, in 12.5% of cases in titers below the diagnostic level. These data are indicative of high sensitivity and specificity of the serological tests used in this study.

[The development of a complex Leptospira antigenic erythrocyte diagnostic agent]. / Razrabotka leptospiroznogo kompleksnogo antigennogo éritrotsitarnogo diagnostikuma.

Blood-sensitive activity of antigenic extracts obtained from leptospiras using the supersound and sodium dodecyl sulphate has been studied. Erythrocytic diagnostica, obtained on the basis of the mentioned sensitines, possess the genus and serogroup specificity, which expands their diagnostic spectrum. New diagnostica are shown to possess higher sensitivity as compared with the previously developed leptospirosis genus-specific erythrocytic diagnostica. The data are presented confirming the prospects of development of erythrocytic diagnostica based on antigens of leptospiras obtained by means of a supersound and sodium dodecyl sulphate. These preparations may be used in the diagnosis of human and animal leptospirosis.

[Prevention of dysbacteriosis in the early neonatal period using a pure culture of acidophilic bacteria]. / Profilaktika disbakteriozov rannego neonatal'nogo perioda s pomoshch'iu chistoi kul'tury atsidofil'nykh palochek.

In order to prevent dysbacterioses occurring in the early neonatal period, 60 neonates classified with the risk group were administered, when they were still at the puerperal room, pure cultures of specially selected strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus possessing marked anti-Klebsiella activity and antagonistic activity against Staphylococcus aureus. The cultures were instilled into the mouth and nasal passages. Forty neonates administered bifidum-bacterin and 54 neonates not given biopreparations were used as control. Application of the pure culture of Lactobacillus acidophilus noticeably raised the efficacy of the preventive measures. Over 60 percent of the neonates were discharged from the maternity home with a normally formed intestinal microflora, 60 percent had normal microflora in the fauces, 80 percent in the nose, and 70 percent of the neonates demonstrated normal skin microflora. The carriage of opportunistic microorganisms in the fauces and nose of the neonates had decreased substantially by the time of the discharge from the maternity home, while the incidence of pyo-inflammatory diseases had also reduced among them.

[Fatty acid composition of Leptospira lipids as a taxonomic criterion]. / Zhirnokislotnyi sostav lipidov leptospir kak taksonomicheskii kriterii.

The fatty-acid composition of microbial cells in 17 pathogenic and saprophytic Leptospira strains, comprising 14 serovars and 10 serogroups, has been studied. The strains under investigation have proved to fall into 3 groups differing by this characteristic. The group of saprophytic strains is characterized by a comparatively high level of myristic acid and, consequently, by the ratio of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids with 14 carbon atoms approaching 1:1; besides, it is also characterized by a lower, in comparison with the pathogenic Leptospira strains belonging to the serogroups Icterohaemorrhagiae, Canicola, Ballum has a higher level of unsaturated fatty acids. The second group of pathogenic Leptospira strains including the serogroups Grippotyphosa, Hebdomadis, Pomona, Tarassovi, Pyrogenes, Australia has been found to occupy an intermediate position between the first group of pathogenic Leptospira strains and the group of saprophytic ones. As the difference in the content of myristic acid in pathogenic and saprophytic Leptospira strains is a stable characteristic, it can be used for the differentiation of these strains. The present investigation has revealed that the distribution of the main fatty acids in Leptospira phospholipids is similar to their distribution in Leptospira neutral lipids with the exception of unsaturated fatty acid with 14 carbon atoms, occurring mainly in phospholipids.

[Serodiagnosis and immunological aspects of Proteus infection. III. Immunological, bacteriological and pathomorphological parallels in experimental Proteus intestinal infections, mono- and mixed]. / Serodiagnostika i immunologicheskie aspekty proteinoi infektsii. Soobshchenie III. Immunologicheskie, bakteriologicheskie i patomorfologicheskie paralleli pri proteinykh kishechnykh mono- i smeshannoi infektsiiakh v éksperimente.

The intraintestinal infection of 76 rabbits with P. mirabilis in a dose of 10(9) cells/kg, alone or in combination with Sh. sonnei, by the method modified by the authors caused a pathological process in the intestine, which was indicative of Proteus playing an independent role in the etiology of diarrheas. The process had its pronounced clinical, microbiological and immunological characteristics. Specific immunoglobulins, mainly H-antibodies, could be detected in different serological tests with the corresponding antigens, their pattern, level and avidity objectively reflecting the development of the infectious process. In mixed infections the pattern of the contamination of feces with the infective agents and their ability to form colonies after the inoculation of fecal samples were changed, while the level of antibodies to the associates was lower than in monoinfections.

[A quantitative method of determining lecithinases and lipases in microorganisms]. / Kolichestvennyi metod opredeleniia letsitinaz i lipaz u mikroorganizmov

The paper presents a method for quantitative assay of lecithinases and lipases in microorganisms. The method is based on the assessment of changes in the composition of lipid components of yolk media under the influence of corresponding enzymic systems of bacteria. The technique involved lipid extraction from yolk media after cultivation of the microorganisms tested, chromatographic separation by thin-layer chromatography on silicagel into individual fractions, development in iodine vapours and quantitative measurement of lipid components.