[The effect of a syringe-exchange program on a decrease in the risk of HIV infection among intravenous narcotic abusers in the city of Rostov-on-Don]. / Vliianie programmy obmena shpritsev na snizhenie riska zarazheniia VICh sredi potrebitelei vnutrivennykh narkotikov v g. Rostov-na-Donu.

The necessity and effectiveness of introducing the program of the exchange of syringes for intravenous drug users as a preventive and antiepidemic measure are discussed. Preventive and antiepidemic measures within the concept of harm reduction are described. The comparative analysis of materials obtained as a result of two sociological questionings, carried out in 1997-1998 among the representatives of the community (random nonrepeating choice) and in the middle of 1999 among the participants of the program revealed that the participants of the program had statistically significant changes in risky behavior patterns during the use of injection drugs.

[The characteristics of HIV infection during a sharp activation of the epidemic process in Rostov Province]. / Osobennosti VICh-infektsii v period rezkoi aktivizatsii épidemicheskogo protsessa v Rostovskoi oblasti.

A considerable growth in cases of HIV infection in Rostov Province was registered in 1996-1997. Number of men was 525, number of women--196 cases, were registered. The highest index of HIV infection was noted in group of tested by epidemiological evidence (4494,4 per 100,000 tested persons), which was 57.2 times higher than the average level for this region. The growth in the number of infected persons was due to the import of HIV from the territory of Ukraine and the subsequent spread of the virus among drug addicts introducing drugs by intravenous injection.

[The behavioral risk factors for contracting HIV infection in the intravenous administration of narcotics in abusers of psychoactive substances in the city of Rostov-on-Don]. / Povedencheskie faktory riska zarazheniia VICh-infektsiei pri vnutrivennom vvedenii narkotikov u potrebitelei psikhoaktivnykh veshchestv g. Rostova-na-Donu.

150 persons (drug users) who had applied to the department of psycho-social consultations and voluntary tests for the presence of HIV infection and STD of the Regional AIDS Control Center, as well as partners of HIV-infected addicts in the intravenous use of drugs, were examined. Out of 150 examined persons 63 were found to be positive for HIV infection. Among dangerous behavioral patterns, characteristic of drug addicts introducing drugs intravenously, the practice of repeated aspiration of the drug into syringes from the dose of the drug solution, common for the whole group of addicts, was noted as the most widespread habit.

[Migration processes in the northern Caucasus and the importation of malaria]. / Migratsionnye protsessy na Severnom Kavkaze i zavoz maliarii.

Recent analysis of migration processes and malaria morbidity rates in the northern Caucasus showed that the risk of resuming local malaria transmission is on the rise in the Rostov Province, Dagestan, and Krasnodar Territory. The migration processes has affected malaria morbidity and amounted to 9.5% of all the factors available on one of these territories in the past years.

[Etiological structure and clinical epidemiological characteristics of Leptospira infection in Rostov Province based on data from therapeutic institutions from 1960 to 1983]. / Etiologicheskaia struktura i kliniko-épidemiologicheskaia kharakteri stika leptospiroznoi infektsii v Rostovskoi oblasti po materialam nekotorykh lechebnykh uchrezhdenii za 1960--1983 gg.

Changes in communal conditions, in economy, as well as in ecology and fauna, which took place in Rostov Province during the last decade (1973-1983) determined shifts in the etiological structure of Leptospira infection and in its course. The study revealed an increase in morbidity caused by L. icterohaemorrhagiae (up to 61%) and L. hebdomadis (up to 22%) with a simultaneous decrease in the isolation rate of L. grippotyphosa and L. pomona (up to 2-3%). In most cases (77%) the diseases caused by leptospires of different serogroups were found to take an icteric course accompanied by the development of hepatorenal insufficiency (46%). The similarity of clinical manifestations in different etiological forms of Leptospira infection was determined by common pathogenetic and pathophysiological features characteristic of the development of the leptospiral infectious process.

[Relation of the epidemiological characteristics of dysentery to the biological properties of the causative agents]. / Sviaz' nekotorykh osobennostei épidemiologii dizenterii s biologicheskimi svoistvami vozbuditelei.

The main forms of the epidemic manifestation of dysentery induced by different causative agents in 1975-1980 were revealed. During these years the cases of dysentery induced by Shigella sonnei, biovar II, were found to prevail (82.0-90.1%) both at the periods between epidemics and at the periods of the seasonal rise of morbidity. The experimental infection of white mice by intraperitoneal inoculation revealed no relationship between the seasonal rise of morbidity in dysentery and the virulence of its causative agents.