[Immunity of the populations of the USSR and East Germany to reference strains of influenza viruses and the characteristics of a new antigenic variant of the virus]. / Izuchenie immuniteta u naseleniia SSSR i GDR k étalonnym shtammam virusov grippa i kharakteristika novogo antigennogo varianta virusa.

In 1985, a new epidemic variant of influenza virus, A/Berlin/6/85 (H3N2) was isolated which differed antigenically from the reference A/Philippines/2/82 virus. The results of the study of population immunity in adults and children of the USSR and GDR to these virus variants confirm the data on the continuing drift of virus A (H3N2).

[Immunomodulating action of levamisole in its combined use with influenza vaccines]. / Immunomoduliruiushchee deistvie levamizola pri ego sochetannom primenenii s grippoznymi vaktsinami.

The immunomodulatory effect of levamisole used in combination with influenza vaccines was studied in young and senile subjects. Levamisole activated antibody production in young subjects in response to administration of a live influenza A (H3N2) vaccine and enhanced the protective effect of vaccinations. The senile subjects vaccinated with inactivated influenza A vaccine (H3N2 and H1N1) had a good immune response and the use of levamisole was not reflected in antibody rises. At the same time, levamisole alone stimulated antibody production to influenza A and B viruses which might be due to irritation of immunocompetent cells carrying "immunological memory".

[Level of antibodies to influenza viruses A and B in the blood sera of children under 13]. / Izuchenie urovnia antitel k virusam grippa A i B v syvorotkakh krovi detei molozhe 13 let.

The level of antibodies to influenza A (H1N1), A (H2N2), A (H3N2), and B viruses in the blood sera collected in October and November, 1980, from 224 children under 13 resident in Moscow and its suburbs was studied The results of the study showed convincingly the influenza A (H2N2) viruses did not circulate at that time among the population of Moscow and its suburbs. The 4 positive (not exceeding 1 : 40 findings in sera from younger children were due to the presence in them of the antibodies cross-reacting with A (H2N2) and A H3N2) viruses which could be completely eliminated from the sera by adsorption of the latter with A/USSR/174/79 (H3N2) virus. The A (H3N2) viruses were the main cause of ARD developing in children in July-September, 1980. These diseases appeared to be the closing part of the influenza A (H3N2) epidemic of 1979-1980. A high percentage of children with antibody titres of 1 : 40 or higher to A (H3N2) viruses indicated that these viruses could hardly cause an epidemic of influenza in children in 1980-1981. A low percentage of children with serum antibodies to influenza B virus (1-10%) in titres of 1 : 40 or higher indicated a possibility of occurrence of an epidemic of this etiology in Moscow in the season of 1980-1981. The occurrence of influenza A (H1N1) epidemic in this period was less likely because of higher levels of antibody to influenza viruses of this subspecies in the sera of children and particularly adults.

[Study results of the comprehensive influenza prevention with vaccines and remantadine during the influenza A(H1N1) outbreak in 1979]. / Rezul'taty izucheniia kompleksnoi profilaktiki grippa vaktsinami i remantadinom vo vremia vspyshki grippa A(H1N1) v 1979 g.

During an outbreak of influenza in April, 1979, caused by A (H1N1) virus the protective effect of remantadine in combination with vaccinations using a national-made live A (H3N2) and inactivated A (H1N1) and B vaccines was studied. The best protective effect was achieved in the subjects vaccinated with influenza vaccines and given remantadine for urgent prophylaxis. Vaccination prophylaxis reduced the incidence of influenza and ARD 1.4-fold, prophylaxis with remantadine alone 2.3-fold.

[Protective action of remantadine during an influenza outbreak caused by virus A (H1N1) in December 1977]. / Izuchenie zashchitnogo deistviia remantadina vo vremia vspyshki grippa, vyzvannoi virusom A (H1N1), v dekabre 1977 g.

The protective effect of remantadin during an influenza outbreak in December 1977 caused by A (H1N1) virus was studied. A prophylactic administration of remantadin decreased influenza and ARD incidence by 1.5-fold. A more significant decrease of the incidence (2.5-fold) was observed among the subjects given a combination of remantadin and influenza vaccine (H3N2) a few days before the outbreak, which was apparently due to the interferon-inducing capacity of the vaccine.

[Dynamics of antihemagglutinine (inhibitors and antibodies) to influenza virus in children with acute leukemia concurrently with influenza]. / Dinamika antigemaggliutininov (ingibitorov i antitel) k virusu grippa u detei s ostrym leikozom pri grippoznoi infektsii.

The study on the dynamics of some aspects of humoral immunity to influenza in children with acute leukosis in the presence of intercurrent influenza infection revealed two kinds of changes: a decline of a comparatively high initial level of antibody and inhibitors, and a rise in their titres when the initial level was lower. Both kinds of changes are characteristic both of the acute stage and the remission of acute leukosis. The chemotherapeutic treatment exerted no visible effect either on the level of the dynamics curve or on the pattern of serological shifts after influenza infection. These results suggest that in children with acute leukosis the response to influenza infection, being no different in nature from that in subjects not suffering from leukosis, is still poor quantitatively.

[Therapeutic effectiveness of bonafton and rimantadine in influenza]. / Terapevticheskaia éffektivnost' bonaftona i rimantadina pri grippe

The therapeutic effectiveness of bonaphthone and rimantadine was studied by treatment of 439 patients with influenza between 18 and 21 years of age (bonaphthone 94, controls 105, rimantadine 120, controls 120). No therapeutic effectiveness of bonaphthone was established in the study. When rimantadine was given to the patients from the 1st day of the disease, shorter intervals of normalization of the temperature, disappearance of toxicity and catarrhal symptoms were observed than in patients treated with symptomatic drugs. During the period of rimantadine therapy the rate of findings the influenza antigen in smears from the nasal mucosa was lower, but after termination of the course of treatment the antigen was found twice as frequently as in the control group. With the positive therapeutic effect in patients treated with rimantadine, the diagnostic rise of antibody in this group was observed in a lower per cent of cases than in the control group (13 and 20%, respectively). The results of immunofluorescent and serological studies indicate a possible virus reproduction-inhibiting effect of rimantadine. This, however, requires further study. On the basis of the above observations rimantadine may be recommended for treatment of patients with influenza.