[Serological diagnosis of tuberculosis in children by using erythrocyte preparations]. / Serologicheskaia diagnostika tuberkuleza u detei s ispol'zovaniem éritrotsitarnykh preparatov.

The results of indirect hemagglutination with phosphatide and protein antigens in children with different manifestations of primary Tb infection point to a high diagnostic potential of the serological method. Specially designed and tested diagnostic preparations made of TB and BCG vaccine strain tuberculin can perfect the diagnosis of tuberculosis and determination of its activity. Employment of the erythrocytic diagnosticum with BCG tuberculin extends the potential of detecting postvaccinal complications in children immunized with BCG vaccine.

[Experience with the use of an immunoglobulin erythrocyte preparation for the early laboratory diagnosis of pseudotuberculosis]. / Opyt primeneniia immunoglobulinovogo éritrotsitarnogo preparata dlia rannei laboratornoi diagnostiki psevdotuberkuleza.

An immunoglobulin erythrocytic preparation for the rapid detection of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis was developed. The preparation was shown to be specific and sufficiently sensitive (8 x 10(5) microbial cells/ml). The preparation was used for the examination of 102 patients; in 62 of these patients the diagnosis was confirmed by means of common laboratory and clinical methods. Y. pseudotuberculosis antigen was detected in the blood of 39 patients (63%), and in 12 patients (29.4%) the results of traditional laboratory tests were negative. In 19 out of 23 patients the coincidence of the results of bacteriological and seroindication study was registered. During the study of the remaining 40 patients the antigen was detected only in 6 patients, including 3 patients with enteric yersiniosis.

[Clinico-immunologic aspects of the differential diagnosis of disseminated processes in the lungs]. / Kliniko-immunologicheskie aspekty differentsial'noi diagnostiki disseminirovannykh protsessov v legkikh.

The results of examination of 224 patients with newly detected disseminated processes in the lungs who were admitted for differential diagnosis are presented. Immunologic studies which include determination of the natural killer activity, neutrophil phagocytosis, a total number of T- and B-lymphocytes and synthesis of antituberculosis antibodies in the indirect hemagglutination reaction with three basic M. tuberculosis antigens (phosphatide, polysaccharide and tuberculin) proved to be of high diagnostic value. Immunologic tests used along with clinical studies allowed timely diagnosis of disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis in 62 patients, the disseminated forms of lung sarcoidosis in 115 and nonspecific diseases (microfocal pneumonias of a protracted character, pneumoconioses carcinomatoses, etc.) in 57 patients.

[Serologic diagnosis of intestinal yersiniosis. The design of a stable erythrocyte preparation for the indirect hemagglutination reaction]. / Serologicheskaia diagnostika kishechnogo iersinioza. Konstruirovanie stabil'nogo éritrotsitarnogo preparata dlia reaktsii nepriamoi gemaggliutinatsii.

Nine types of erythrocyte diagnostica of serovars O3 and O9, differing in the methods of obtaining sensitins and the physical state of erythrocytes, were put on trial. The preparations were used for the titration of hyperimmune sera and blood sera obtained from about 500 healthy persons, 300 patients with Yersinia enteric infection and 300 patients with other diseases. Freeze-dried diagnostica, when compared with liquid ones, were found to be less sensitive, but more stable and specific. Sensitins isolated by the methods of Westphal ad Boivin showed the highest degree of specificity. The authors believe freeze-dried sheep red blood with activated Boivin's antigen adsorbed onto them to be the optimal preparation for use in the passive hemagglutination (PHA) test. The preparation was found to retain its serological activity for as long as 2-3 years. The titer 1:160 (1:200) in the PHA test is recommended as the minimal diagnostic indicator. Erythrocyte diagnosticum is more sensitive, specific and stable than bacterial one. Since 1984 dried Yersinia erythrocyte diagnostica (serovars O3 and O9) have gone into quantity production at the Leningrad Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera.

[The choice of rational methods for determining antibodies to Yersinia enterocolitica. The agglutination reaction]. / Vybor ratsional'nykh metodov opredeleniia antitel k Yersinia enterocolitica. Reaktsiia aggliutinatsii.

Six tests suitable for the detection of antibodies to Y. enterocolitica, serovars 03 and 09, were studied. The results of the study of hyperimmune sera revealed that the agglutination test and the indirect hemagglutination test were the most promising methods and deserved efforts for their further development. Bacterial diagnostic agents were prepared from live, heat-killed and formalin-killed Yersinia cultures and tested. The titration of homologous and heterologous sera revealed no essential differences in the preparations; in the serological examination of healthy persons (102), patients with Yersinia enteral infection (150) and with other acute enteral infections (92), the results obtained with the use of the above-mentioned preparations carried the highest information content. OH diagnostic agents proved to have the highest specificity; of these, the diagnosticum obtained by treatment 0.3-0.4% formalin vas found to be the most stable and technologically effective preparation. The minimal diagnostic titer of the agglutination test for the presence of Yersinia enteral infection was established (1:60 = 1:320). This titer was determined in 73% of the patients with bacteriologically confirmed Yersinia enteral infection and only in 1% of healthy persons and patients with other acute enteral infections.

[Causes of the nonspecific reactions with antigenic erythrocyte diagnostic reagents]. / Izuchenie prichin nespetsificheskikh reaktsii s antigennymi éritrotsitarnymi diagnostikumami.

The causes leading to the appearance of positive reactions in diagnostic titers (1:200 and higher), registered in the sera of healthy persons in tests carried out with the use of experimental and commercial lots of Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri antigenic diagnostic reagents, are analyzed. The study has shown that the appearance of nonspecific reactions may be due to the influence of the initial state of the microbial culture (the biomass used as raw material for the production of sensitin), the method of the isolation of the antigen and its sensitizing dose, the kind of the erythrocyte carrier, the method of erythrocyte fixation and the temperature conditions of the passive hemagglutination test. The ways for the elimination of positive seroconversions are outlined.