[Study of vertical transmission of coxsackie group enteroviruses in the etiology of congenital immunodeficiencies]. / Znachenie vertikal'noi peredachi énterovirusov gruppy koksaki v étiologii vrozhdennykh immunodefitsitnykh sostoianii.

Morphological and virological studies were carried out in 26 cases of perinatal and neonatal deaths in a group at a high risk of vertical transmission of Coxsackie viruses. Antigens of Coxsackie viruses A and B were identified in 73.1% of autopsy materials, including the thymus. Adenovirus and rubella virus antigens were detected much more rarely: in 26.9 and 30.8% of cases. The incidence of Coxsackie viruses was minimal (50%) in cases when thymic abnormalities were confined to the initial signs of preterm involution and reliably increased if the involution was more expressed in the presence of underdeveloped thymus, reaching 100% in cases with the terminal stage of preterm involution in the presence of marked immaturity. The data confirm the hypothesis about the principal role of Coxsackie virus in the etiology of secondary congenital immunodeficiencies detected in children at a high risk of vertical transmission of these viruses.

[Etiological connection between juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and the chronic form of coxsackie virus infection]. / Etiologicheskaia sviaz' iuvenil'nogo revmatoidnogo artrita s khronicheskoi formoi koksaki-virusnoi infektsii.

Coxsackie group enteroviruses, mainly Coxsackie A13 virus, were detected in involved joints of 76% children with rheumatoid arthritis, adenoviruses (mainly adenovirus 5) in 68%, and rubella virus in 52%. Mixed virus infection was diagnosed in 80% patients. At least one of the above viruses was detected in 23 out of 25 examinees (92%). The authors discuss the contribution of different viruses to the etiology of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and consider that chronic Coxsackie virus infection is the most probable primary etiological factor of this disease.

[Risk of intrauterine infection of the human fetus with Coxsackie viruses in pregnancy complicated by late toxicosis and pyelonephritis]. / O riske vnutriutrobnogo zarazheniia ploda cheloveka virusami Koksaki pri beremennosti, oslozhnennoi pozdnim toksikozom i pielonefritom.

During virological examinations of 144 pregnant women including 85 women with complicated course of pregnancy Coxsackie A viruses were isolated from the blood or identified in the cells of urinary tracts in 60.3% of the cases of nephropathy, in 68.3% of the pregnant women with pyelonephritis, and in 8.5% of normal subjects. The groups of the pregnant women under comparison did not differ significantly in the rate of finding of other viruses. Coxsackie A viruses were also isolated from the placenta and amniotic fluid in 3 out of 4 cases examined in late toxicosis, were found in the kidneys of the fetus from a woman with pyelonephritis and in cells of the urinary tracts of 13 out of 19 babies (68.4%) born to women with complicated course of pregnancy. The hypothesis of the etiological association of nephropathy and pyelonephritis in pregnant women with activation of chronic Coxsackie virus infection and of the high risk of infection of the fetus with these viruses in the described complications of pregnancy is discussed.

[Viremia in children with rheumatoid arthritis]. / Virusemiia u detei, bol'nykh revmatoidnym artritom.

The blood specimens from 22 children with rheumatoid arthritis, 57 children with other chronic diseases and 30 apparently normal children were tested for the presence of Coxsackie A and B, adeno, and rubella viruses by the method of co-cultivation of patient's lymphocytes with continuous HEp-2 cell culture. Children with chronic diseases were found to have viremia much more frequently than normal children. The frequency of finding of different viruses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (86.4%) significantly exceeded that in healthy children (20%). These patients had rubella and adeno 5 viruses in their blood more frequently than children in the other groups under study. Repeated examinations of 14 patients with rheumatoid arthritis at intervals of 1 year or longer revealed in 11 of them the same viruses as those identified in initial examinations. Persistence of some viruses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is discussed.

Coxsackie A 13 virus in the foci of rheumatism.

Faeces and nasopharyngeal washing were examined in 12 patients and 27 contacts of these patients in family foci (primary foci) of rheumatism and in 37 patients and 32 contacts of these patients in secondary foci of rheumatism (in hospitals). Results of stimultaneous examinations of 127 children of the control groups served as the control. An analysis of the results of the investigation showed the Coxsackie A 13 virus was found considerably more frequently in both the patients (83.3%) and their contacts (148.1%) in the primary foci of rheumatism than outside these foci (11.9--15.3%). The difference is statistically significant. Wide distribution of Coxsackie A 13 virus was also observed in clinical departments in which children were hospitalized at the acute stage of rheumatism. We failed to establish marked differences in the rate of detection of other viruses in the foci of rheumatism in comparison with the control groups.