[New nutrient medium for the cultivation and isolation of the plague microbe ChDS-37 as an element of the mobilization reserve of specialized antiepidemic teams of the Russian Inspectorate for the Protection of Consumer Rights and Human Welfare].

A new nutrient medium has been designed to culture and isolate the plague microbe ChDS-37 on the basis of the pancreatic digest of baker's yeast. The results of laboratory tests of the designed medium, by using 10 plague microbe strains and those of approval during the tactical and special training of a specialized antiepidemic team (SAET), suggest that the medium has some advantage over reference media and creates prerequisites for being incorporated into the mobilization reserve of a SAET.

[Studies on halophilic vibrios causing a food poisoning outbreak in the city of Vladivostok]. / Galofil'nye vibriony, obuslovivshie vspyshku pishchevoi toksikoinfektsii vo Vladivostoke.

V. parahaemolyticus and V. alginolyticus strains isolated from patients during an outbreak of an acute enteric disease in Vladivostok in 1997 were studied. All strains were found to possess typical taxonomic signs. V. parahaemolyticus isolated from humans had direct heat stable haemolysin exotoxin. The overwhelming majority of these strains belonged to serovar O3K6. Among the cultures under study 7 phage types were determined: phage types 1, 2, 7, 10 in 8 V. parahaemolyticus strains and phage types 2, 4. 5. 7 in 5 V. alginolyticus strains. The diagnostic halophilic phage lyzed vibrios in 30.2% of strains. The cultures under study were found to be highly sensitive to chloramphenicol, cefotaxime, nalidixic acid and cyprofloxacin. The study proved that the outbreak of alimentary toxicoinfection was caused by vibrios of serogroup O3:K6.

[The use of a cholera coagulating diagnostic agent under the cholera epidemic conditions in Dagestan]. / Primenenie kholernogo koagliutiniruiushchego diagnostikuma v usloviiakh épidemii kholery v Dagestane.

Dried cholera diagnosticum for the slide coagglutination test was obtained. The diagnosticum, found to be highly active and specific, permitted the detection of Vibrio cholerae in the analyzed material at a concentration of 10(6)-10(8) microbial cells/ml. The diagnosticum was used during cholera epidemic in Daghestan for the detection and rapid identification of cholera vibrios. In all cases the positive results of the coagglutination test were confirmed by other investigation methods (no cases of hyperdiagnosis was registered). The production of these diagnostica in small batches on the basis of specialized research laboratories was recommended.

[The characteristics of cholera prevalence and of the performance of epidemic-control measures in small settlements of Dagestan]. / Osobennosti rasprostraneniia kholery i provedeniia protivoépidemicheskikh meropriiatii v nebol'shikh naselennykh punktakh Dagestana.

The present work deals with summarizing the experience obtained by the specialized antiepidemic brigade of the Rostov-on-Don Research Institute for Plague Control in the work on the liquidation of cholera in some regions of Daghestan with a view to discussing the problems of improvement of anticholera measures. The characteristic features of the epidemic process were its explosive character, sparseness of the foci of infection, the prevalence of its transmission through everyday contacts (family contacts and intensive tribal contacts) and essential delays in taking anticholera measures due to sudden appearance of outbreaks, remoteness of small settlements and the lack of manpower and means for carrying out anticholera measures at a given place and time, as well as delays in epidemiological analysis carried out by local health service bodies. Delays in carrying out such measures led to the spread of infection both within settlements and in the whole region and further in the republic. The epidemic process was complicated by the antibiotic resistance of V.cholerae strains circulating on this territory. All these factors formed specific epidemic situation which introduced amendments into the organization of anticholera measures.

[The preservation of the causative agent of cholera in the water supplies of the central regions of Dagestan (experimental data)]. / O sokhranenii vozbuditelia kholery v vodnykh istochnikakh tsentral'nykh raionov Dagestana (éksperimental'nye dannye).

The acidic pH of water of surface water reservoirs in Izberbash and two adjoining regions, including sea water, seems to be unfavorable for the prolonged preservation of Vibrio cholerae eltor, but additional ecological investigations are necessary to study the possibility for infection to take root at this territory. Water from the Zam-Zam spring, if contaminated with V. cholerae, may serve as a transmission factor, but the duration of its action is limited by the survival term of V. cholerae. The water route of transmission did not play any essential role in the spread of cholera in the central regions of Daghestan.

[Assessment of the importance of certain properties for the virulence of Vibrio cholerae and the detection of their correlations]. / Otsenka znacheniia nekotorykh svoistv dlia virulentnosti Vibrio cholerae i vyiavlenie ikh korreliativnykh sviazei.

The study of 65 V. cholerae strains and mutants with different biological characteristics has revealed that their virulence directly correlates with their sensitivity to diagnostic cholera phages, lecithnase activity, viability and inversely correlates with their hemolytic activity. The role of lecithinase activity in a number of properties linked with cholerigenicity has been shown. Inverse correlation between the hemolytic activity of V. cholerae and some properties of this organism has been detected. The characteristics under study have been divided into 3 groups in accordance with correlations between them.