Is there a real need for sputum culture for community-acquired pneumonia diagnostics? Results from a retrospective study in Russia.

OBJECTIVES: The mortality rate associated with community-acquired pneumonia is still considered high as it occupies a leading position among all infectious diseases. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the implementation of the respiratory bacterial culture sampling in the clinical practice of the Russian Federation's therapeutic departments and its impact on inpatient care. METHODS: The study included 1,344 patients with community-acquired pneumonia. The analysis of the obtained data was performed using the statistical software package SPSS 23.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics). The description of quantitative indicators was carried out with an indication of the median (25; 75 percentile). Qualitative with an indication of the absolute and relative frequencies n (%). RESULTS: It was noted that a third of the sample did not pass through the first stage (bacterioscopy). We noticed the predominance of oropharyngeal flora in the results. The sputum collection was carried out on average 3 (1; 5) days after the start of hospitalization, while antibiotic therapy was prescribed to all patients on the first day, the results of the bacteriological study were ready on average 6 (4; 8th) calendar days after hospitalization, while in 20 (1.5%) cases, the patient was already discharged. Due to the inefficiency of the starting regimen, antimicrobial agents have changed in 84 (6.3%) patients and averaged 5.5 (4.0; 10.0) days from the start of hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: The violation of the technique and the time of sputum collection resulted in a reduction in the method's value.

Opisthorchis felineus infection prevalence in Western Siberia: A review of Russian literature.

In this study we reviewed Russian scientific literature (scientific publications, book chapters, monographs) published between 1 January 1979 and 31 August 2015 from two sources: Main database of the Russian Scientific Electronic Library (eLIBRARY, http://elibrary.ru/), and the Scientific Medical Library of Siberian State Medical University (http://medlib.tomsk.ru/). Specifically, the review details the infection prevalence of Opisthorchis felineus (O. felineus) in Western Siberia, Russian Federation. From the primary key words screening, 1591 records were identified from which 32 Russian-language publications were relevant. The lowest O. felineus infection rate of 0.4% was reported in Tatarstan Republic, and the highest reached 83.9% in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. The infection prevalence was lower in children than in adults and increased with age. O. felineus infection was detected more often in indigenous population than in migrants. Infection intensity in western regions (Permskaya, Bryanskaya Oblast) was low and varied from 15 to 336 eggs per gram stool (epg), while in endemic regions it reached more than 2000 epg. In some settlements the mean intensity infection was 5234 epg. The high rates of intensity were registered in regions with a high prevalence of infection. Based on obtained data, a map of O. felineus infection prevalence in Western Siberia was developed. After mapping the results, the highest prevalence was detected in Tyumenskaya Oblast with over 60%, while the Tomskaya Oblast had the lowest prevalence at fewer than 19.0%. Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomus Okrug, Altaiskii Krai, Novosibirskaya Oblast and Omskaya Oblast had an average level of O. felineus infection of 20-39%. According to the results of the review, Western Siberia must be considered as highly endemic region for opisthorchiasis in the Russian Federation. The development of a control program specific for the Russian community is warranted.

Association of polymorphisms in the human IL4 and IL5 genes with atopic bronchial asthma and severity of the disease.

Two polymorphisms in the IL4 (G/C 3'-UTR) and IL5 (C-703T) genes were studied in a sample of families whose probands had atopic bronchial asthma (BA) (66 families, n = 183) and in a group of non-cognate individuals with the severe form of the disease (n = 34). The samples were collected from the Russian population in the city of Tomsk (Russia). Using the transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT), a significant association of allele C-703 IL5 with BA was established (TDT = 4.923, p = 0.007 +/- 0.0007). The analysis of 40 individuals with mild asthma and 49 patients with the severe form of the disease revealed a negative association of genotype GG IL4 (OR = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.15-0.99, p = 0.035), and also a trend towards a positive association of the GC IL4 genotype (OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 0.98-6.57, p = 0.052) with mild BA. There was a concordance of the clinical classification of BA severity with the 'genotype' (McNemar's chi(2) test with continuity correction constituted 0.03, d.f. = 1, p = 0.859). These results suggest that polymorphisms in the IL4 and IL5 genes contribute to the susceptibility to atopic BA and could determine the clinical course of the disease.