Ultrastructural study of chitosan effects on Klebsiella and staphylococci.

Antibacterial effect of chitosan on the morphofunctional organization of clinical strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus was studied by transmission electron microscopy. Chitosan promoted aggregation of bacterial cells and disorganization of bacterial cell wall and cytoplasmic membrane, which leads to the release of bacterial contents into the environment. These structural changes result in bacterial death.

[Effect of piperacillin/tazobactam on the anti-infection resistance in patients with infections in the peritoneal cavity]. / Vliianie piperatsillin/tazobaktama na sistemu antiinfektsionnoi rezistentnosti bol'nykh s infektsiei v briushnoi polosti.

The effect of the monotherapy with piperacillin/tazobactam (P/T) or tazocin on microflora of the mucous membranes of the nose and pharynx of 33 patients and the contents of the large intestine of 21 patients as well as on the immunological aspects (cellular and humoral factors) of the antiinfectious resistance systems (AIRS) in patients with abdominal cavity infection (ACI) was studied. Before the treatment serious impairment of the AIRS in all the patients was observed. The P/T monotherapy in a daily dose of 12/1.5 g at the average for 10 days had no unfavourable effect on the indices characterizing the phagocytic function of the neutrophils in the incompleted and completed variants, on the immunocompetent cells, hemolytic complement and the levels of IgM, IgG and IgA. No significant effect of the treatment on the mucosal microflora on the whole was detected. However, Neisseria spp. and Corynebacterium pseudodiphtheriticum were eradicated in the pharynx while the number of the Klebsiella pneumoniae [symbol: see text] Escherichia coli isolates from the pharynx mucosa increased. The number of the bifidobacteria in the contents of the large intestine significantly lowered while the number of the hemolyzing forms of enterococci and stapylococci increased. The investigation of the AIRS immunological aspects in the patient groups of different total (clinicomorphological) efficacy showed that the neutrophil phagocytic function was the efficacy predictor and P/T in its turn had an immunomodulating effect on the neutrophil phagocytic activity in the patients with ACI.

[Use of microtest systems for identification of newly isolated clinical strains]. / Ispol'zovanie mikrotest-sistem dlia identifikatsii svezhevydelennykh klinicheskikh izoliatov.

Species appurtenance of 425 clinical strains isolated from various types of material from December 1993 to November 1994 was identified using Lachema (Czechia) Micro-la-test. There were 99 staphylococcal, 139 streptococcal, 119 enterobacterial cultures, and 68 nonfermenting gram-negative bacteria. The microorganisms were characterized completely according to their code in 67.7% cases (STAPHYtest), 54% (STREPTOtest), 25.2% (ENTEROtest), and 22.1% (NEFERMtest). False-positive reactions in the control were detected in 22.2% (STAPHYtest), 33.3% (STREPTOtest), 11.8% (ENTEROtest), and 41.7% (NEFERMtest) of the number of biochemical characteristics in a plaque. Unclear reactions (+/-) making identification difficult were observed in 100% cases for STAPHYtest, 83.3% for STREPTOtest, 91.7% for ENTEROtest-1, and 58.3% for NEFERMtest. Atypical reactions, not corresponding to the studied species, were observed in 62.5% cases with STAPHYtest, 41.7% with STREPTOtest, 66.7% with ENTEROtest-1, and 58.3% with NEFERMtest. Still, STREPTOtest with the probability of verifying 61.5 to 87.5% of the cultures may be used for identifying the species appurtenance of alpha-hemolytic streptococci.

[A method of sequential (intravenous and oral) use of ofloxacin in the treatment of patients with infections of organs of the peritoneal cavity]. / Metod posledovatel'nogo (vnutrivenno i vnutr') primeneniia ofloksatsina pri lechenii bol'nykh s infektsiiami organov briushnoi polosti.

Clinico-laboratory estimation of the efficacy and tolerance of ofloxacin used in succession, at first intravenously and then orally, in the treatment of 15 patients with infection of the abdominal cavity was performed. It was shown that after the use for a period of 10 years ofloxacin preserved its high antimicrobial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative organisms with multiple drug resistance and remained superior to the majority of broad spectrum antimicrobial agents by the number of susceptible isolates. The successive use of ofloxacin proved to be highly efficient. The total efficacy of the drug amounted to 80 percent and no side effects were recorded. The analysis of the microbiological state of the antiinfectious resistance system (AIRS) showed that the dysbiotic lesions on the mucosa of the upper respiratory tracts and large intestine detected in all the patients before the treatment with ofloxacin remained after the treatment. However, a change in the microflora responsible for dysbacteriosis was observed. The investigation of the immunological status of the AIRS suggested that the good and satisfactory results of the therapy with ofloxacin could to a significant extent be due to the proportion of the active neutrophils.