[The immunological diagnosis of peptostreptococcal infection]. / Immunologicheskaia diagnostika peptostreptokokkovoi infektsii.

The work deals with different methods for the diagnosis of anaerobic streptococcal infection, experimentally tested and clinically approved in the examination of children with acute pneumonia. The passive hemagglutination test, the immune rosette formation test and the specific lymphocyte blastogenesis test were used for diagnosis. As sensitin and antigen, the preparation of the peptostreptococcal bacterial mass was used. The diagnostic titer of antibodies to anaerobic streptococci was 1:160. A twofold and greater increase in the number of antigen-dependent rosette-forming lymphocytes and in specific blast transformation in the presence of the diagnostic antibody titer confirms the etiological role of anaerobic peptostreptococci in the development of pneumonia in children.

[Effect of metronidazole on the course of experimental anaerobic streptococcal pneumonia]. / Vliianie metronidazola na techenie éksperimental'noi anaérobnoi streptokokkovoi pnevmonii.

The effect of metronidazole in experimental anaerobic pneumonia in guinea pigs infected with peptostreptococci has been studied. In the untreated animals the prolonged pathological process in the lungs is mainly associated with the suppression of the functional state of the thymus-dependent link of the immune system. Metronidazole suppresses anaerobic flora, stimulates local immune reaction and arrests the development of inflammatory changes in the lungs. The drug eliminates the unbalance in some subpopulations of immunocompetent cells and restores the number of cells regulating immune response to the normal level. The results obtained in this investigation make it possible to recommend the trial of metronidazole in the complex therapy of peptostreptococcal pneumonia.