[Use of polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in children with diseases of the bronchopulmonary system]. / Ispol'zovanie polimeraznoi tsepnoi reaktsii dlia diagnostiki tuberkuleza u detei s patologiei bronkholegochnoi sistemy.

A comprehensive study was conducted to determine the activity of tuberculous infection in 115 patients who formed 3 groups: 1) patients with primary forms of tuberculosis; 2) those who were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT); and 3) those who were infected with bronchopulmonary diseases. The detection of MBT DNA in the blood by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a highly sensitive four-primed diagnostic kit established that 80 patients with tuberculosis had positive results and their decrease as the patient had a course of tuberculostatic therapy. The fact that a third of patients from Groups 2 and 3 had highly positive results of PCR required that a preventive course of double therapy be used for 3 to 6 months.

[Impact of specific antituberculosis therapy on gastrointestinal tract in children]. / Vliianie spetsificheskoi protivotuberkuleznoi terapii na zheludochno-kishechnyi trakt u detei.

Forty eight children aged 3 to 14 years treated at hospital for various tuberculous abnormalities were examined. The findings suggest that the use of antituberculosis agents in children with normal acid and pepsin production failed to have a noticeable effect on the gastrointestinal tract. Moreover, the 6-month use of highly and moderately effective antituberculosis agents produced no effect on the aggressive properties of gastric juice. It is necessary to prescribe enveloping and mucus-forming agents to reduce the potential side effect of tuberculostatic therapy.

[Detection of antitubercular antibodies in children and adolescents at the health resort stage of management]. / Vyiavlenie protivotuberkuleznykh antitel u detei i podrostkov na sanatornom étape lecheniia.

Antituberculosis antibodies were detected in 164 children and adolescents who had tuberculosis and who were infected with mycobacteria. The diagnostic value of indirect hamagglutination tests with phosphatide antigen and tuberculin, complement uptake, passive hemolysis, and enzyme immunoassay for evaluating the progression of tuberculosis was defined in patients at a specialized sanatorium. The significance of the tests increases when they are concurrently used.

[Middle molecules and tuberculosis activity in children and adolescents at the sanatorium stage of treatment]. / Molekuly srednei massy i aktivnost' tuberkuleza u detei i podrostkov na sanatornom étape lecheniia.

Medium-weight molecules (MWM) were measured in the plasma of 67 children and adolescents aged 11 to 17 years who were infected with and suffered from various types of tuberculosis. The highest values of MWM were found in patients with tuberculous exudative pleuritis and infiltrative pulmonary tuberculosis. During treatment, there was a significant reduction in the mean levels of MWM in 20 follow-up patients. It is concluded that it is expedient to employ this test to detect insidious tuberculosis activity during sanatorium treatment and to use it as a criterion for therapeutical efficiency.

[Methods of detection and characteristics of clinical manifestations of tuberculosis in children and adolescents]. / Metody vyiavleniia i kharakteristika klinicheskikh proiavlenii tuberkuleznoi infektsii u detei i podrostkov.

Methods of detection of tuberculous infection in 127 children and adolescents treated in special hospitals and sanatoria have seen analyzed. The diagnosis was made using tuberculin in 62.2%, epidemiological evidence in 12.6%, fluorographic findings in 7.8%, survey of risk groups in 7.1%. 10.2% of the patients sought medical advice. A favourable course of the disease was seen in cases detected at tuberculin diagnosis and risk group examination. Complications occurred primarily in those who sought medical advice.

[Clinical and radiographic characteristics of tuberculosis in infants]. / Kliniko-rentgenologicheskaia kharakteristika tuberkuleza u detei rannego vozrasta.

Epidemiological and BCG vaccination background and clinicoroentgenological signs of tuberculosis were analysed with reference to epidemiological and BCG vaccination background in 177 infants. In infants tuberculosis was represented primarily by intrathoracic lymph node tuberculosis running as infiltrative, tumorous and minor. Disseminated tuberculosis and meningitis occurred as a rule within the first year of life. The disease most frequently arose due to tuberculosis contact. More than half of the children from the infection foci developed complications. In conditions of massive exogenic superinfection BCG vaccination fails to prevent infection and further progression of the disease.

[Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children with bronchopulmonary diseases and evaluation of its role in the course of disease]. / Vyiavlenie infitsirovaniiia mikobakteriiami tuberkuleza detei s bronkholegochnoi patologiei i otsenka ego vliianiia na kharakter techeniia zabolevaniia.

Of 190 children under 14 with nonspecific pulmonary diseases (NSPD) 32.4% had lingering pneumonia, 20.9% recurrent bronchitis. 54% of lung disease hospital inpatients had M. tuberculosis. Normergic and hyperergic tuberculin sensitivity was revealed in 85.6 and 14.4% of cases, respectively. 20.5% of the examinees had inverted reactions. Clinical symptoms were slight in 13% of children. The rest had evident disease. The addition of antituberculous drugs to nonspecific therapy in 10.2% of the children has improved treatment outcomes.

[Characteristics of tuberculosis among children (data from a specialized hospital]. / Kharakteristika tyberkuleznoi infektsii u detei (po dannym spetsializirovannogo statsionara).

The results of analysis of 3076 case histories of patients who were studied in a specialized hospital of Leningrad in the period of 1984-1989 made it possible to give the present-day characteristic of tuberculosis infection in children aged up to 14 years. Study was conducted according to the accepted scheme and comprised analysis of a general composition of patients, clinical diagnosis structure, specific features of the different forms of tuberculosis, registration of complications, age, sex and territory factors and results of other investigations. Special emphasis was given to the characteristic of a group of children suffering from tuberculosis. The findings obtained give evidence on the unfavourable changes in the structure of clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis in children during the last five years.

[Immune system characteristics in acute pneumonia]. / Kharakteristika immunnoi sistemy pri ostroi pnevmonii.

In 76 patients with acute pneumonia the absolute and relative numbers of T- and B-lymphocytes and their functional activity were determined on the basis of the data on the immunoglobulin level and lymphocyte blast-transformation with phytohemagglutinine. The character of the immune response of the patients was found to depend on the activity of the inflammatory process, its spread and the features of the clinical course of the disease. The most pronounced changes in the immune system of the patients (a sharp decrease in the number and function of T- and B-lymphocytes) were observed in croupous pneumonia and in the prolonged course of local pneumonia, as well as in cases of considerable lesion of the pulmonary tissue (3-6 and more segments).