[Dynamics of diphtheria morbidity and population immunity]. / Dinamika zabolevaemosti difteriei i immuniteta naseleniia.

Observations on the stratum immune to diphtheria among the population, carried out over a period of many years and involving more than 37,000 people, have shown its gradual decrease in all adult age groups. In recent years the number of adults susceptible to diphtheria exceeded the number of susceptible children by 10.6%, and in some age groups by 18.5-21.8%, which makes for the total increase of diphtheria morbidity in recent years owing to its rise among adults. Regular revaccination of the adult population against diphtheria, made simultaneously with that against tetanus, is recommended.

[Characteristics of the immune response of inoculated and intact animals to the administration of toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains of Clostridium tetani]. / Kharakteristika immunnogo otveta privitykh i intaktnykh éksperimental'nykh zhivotnykh na vvedenie toksigennogo i netoksigennogo shtammov Clostridium tetani.

In experiments on guinea pigs the immune reactions of the animals immunized and not immunized against tetanus in response to the injection of C. tetani spores were studied. In the immunized animals an increase in the production of tetanus antitoxin, the development of delayed hypersensitivity and the activation of the mechanisms of cell-mediated immunity were observed. The nonimmunized animals showed specific changes in the T-system of immunity without the appearance of the clinical symptoms of tetanus, which is, probably, one of the mechanisms of natural immunity.

[Comparative study of resistance to tetanus and indices of the passive hemagglutination reaction in experimental animals]. / Sravnitel'noe izuchenie rezistentnosti k stolbniaku i pokazatelei reaktsii passivnoi gemaggliutinatsii u éksperimental'nykh zhivotnykh.

The article presents the results of the study of resistance to tetanus in 450 guinea pigs immunized against tetanus in a single injection and having antitoxin titers in their blood, as determined in the passive hemagglutination test, from less than or equal to 0.01 IU/ml to 1.6 IU/ml and more. The degree of protection in the immunized animals was determined by their challenge with Clostridium tetani spores in DCL and LD50.

[Guinea pig resistance to infection by the spores of the tetanus causative agent at various levels of tetanus antitoxin and delayed hypersensitivity]. / Rezistentnost' morskikh svinok k zarazheniiu sporami vozbuditelei stolbniaka pri raznykh urovniakh stolbniachnogo antitoksina i giper-chuvstvitel'nosti zamedlennogo tipa.

Comparative experimental investigations on guinea pigs immunized against tetanus, carried out with the use of different methods for the determination of immunity to tetanus, have demonstrated the existence of a relationship between the results of the tests used in these investigations (the neutralization test, the passive hemagglutination test and the allergic skin test) and the resistance of the animals to challenge with C. tetani spores in Dcl and Dlm50. The mechanisms of not only humoral, but also cell-mediated immunity play an important role in protection from tetanus infection. The possibility of using, on principle, the allergic skin test with tetanin for the evaluation of immunity to tetanus in individual patients with the aim of differential approach to protection against tetanus in traumas has been shown.