The effect of using T-activin in the therapy of the newborn with suppurative surgical infection

A total of 156 newborn infants with suppurative surgical infection (SSI) were observed; 73 of them had sepsis and 83 a severe localized process. In 47 patients with sepsis and 34 with localized infection, T-activin was included in complex therapy while the other infants formed the control group. It has been established that T-activin leads to an increase in the quantity of the active population of T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood and to enhanced functional activity of T-lymphocytes in the newborn with SSI independent of generalization of the process. Bactericidal activity of circulating phagocytes is improved. The clinical course of SSI is less severe with more pronounced positive changes in the symptoms, hospital stay of the children is shortened, lethality is reduced. The effect of T-activin on the dynamic of the indices of the immune state is more marked in a septic process.     

Post-transfusion cytomegalovirus infection in newborn infants

Post-transfusional cytomegalovirus infection (P.T.C.M.V.) represents a minor part (perhaps about 0.2%) when compared with C.M.V. infections or maternal origin (congenital 0.2-0.5% - post-natal first year 20%). However P.T.C.M.V. infections are associated with higher morbidity and mortality because: These infections develop in infants born from uninfected mothers (C.M.V. sero-negative mothers). These newborns have no passively acquired antibodies from maternal origin which probably prevent or limit the spreading of P.T.C.M.V. infection in infants born from C.M.V. seropositive mothers. Transfused newborns are essentially recruited among great premature infants. The transfusional needs of these newborns are great: many of them receive more than ten micro-transfusions of red blood cells during their hospitalisation period. So the risk for developing C.M.V. infection is high (10-20%). The limited immune competence of these newborns and the fact that many already suffer from other developmental defects explain the severity of these P.T.C.M.V. infections. This contrasts with the well-supported C.M.V. infections post-natally acquired in term newborns. Prevention of P.T.C.M.V. infections is possible (A. Yeager, 1981) when using blood from C.M.V. sero-negative donors. Frozen blood appears also effective. It is highly desirable that blood Transfusion Centers permit such a prevention for red blood cells transfusion or exchange-transfusion in newborns less than 1 500 g B.W. and for intra-uterine transfusions.     

The creation of specific immunity to staphylococcal infection in newborn infants by the intranasal administration of adsorbed staphylococcal anatoxin

The possibility of enhancing specific immunity in newborn infants by the intranasal administration of adsorbed staphylococcal toxoid to infants with a high risk of staphylococcal infection in doses of 1 drop (0.05 ml) into each nostril during the first 7-9 years of their life. On days 7-9 the level of anti-alpha-toxin in the blood rose to 3.8 +/- 0.14 I. U./ml and remained sufficiently high 3-6 months later. When this method was used for the simultaneous immunization of mothers, their antitoxic titers were not as high as in newborn infants. No side effects were observed. In the control group, the titers of anti-alpha-toxin were low during the whole period of observation. Infants immunized by the proposed method had no staphylococcal infections both during the newborn period and within the first year of their life. In the control group, 8 cases of minor forms of purulent septic infection were registered during the newborn period, and in 2 infants umbilical staphylococcal sepsis was diagnosed.     

Streptococcus group B in meningitis and infection of newborn infants

Streptococci were isolated from the liquor or blood of 102 newborn infants and 16 infants in the first month of their life, suspected of having purulent meningitis, in 22 cases (18,5%). 5 isolated streptococcal strains were classified with group B on the basis of their cultural, biochemical and serological features. All of these strains were isolated from newborn infants during the first 3-4 days of their life. The occurrence of group B streptococci among all examined newborn infants was 4.8%; among the newborns with the positive results of bacteriological examination (73 infants) this figure was as high as 6.8%. The authors emphasize the necessity of producing, on an industrial scale, diagnostic preparations for the identification of group B streptococci playing a significant role in septic diseases and meningitides in newborns.     

Enhancement of antitoxic immunity in newborn infants by peroral administration of donor antistaphylococcal immunoglobulin

The possibility of enhancing specific immunity by the oral administration of homologous antistaphylococcal immunoglobulin in a dose of 50 I. U./kg b. w. before the first feeding was shown in 75 newborn infants with a high risk of staphylococcal infection. 24 hours after the first administration of Ig the titer of staphylococcal anti-alpha toxin in the blood rose from 0.68 +/- 0.05 I. U./ml to 2.9 +/- 0.14 I. U/ml, on day 7 this titer persisted at the level of 2.86 +/- 0.12 I. U./ml, and 3 months later the titer was 1.5 +/- 0.05 I. U./ml. No side effects were observed. In the reference group (50 infants) antitoxic titers remained low. No suppurative-septic diseases were observed in the test group within 3 months, while in the controls, focal forms of staphylococcal infection (12 cases) and sepsis (1 case) were registered.     

The formation of the normal intestinal microbiocenosis in newborn infants and under antibiotic therapy

The dynamic study of the microecological state of the intestine in 41 newborns up to the age of 3 months has been made by biochemical and bacteriological investigation methods. The results of the biochemical rapid analysis have been found to be in complete agreement with those of the bacteriological analysis and, besides, to provide essential additional data. The biochemical rapid analysis permits the evaluation of the state resistance to the colonization of the intestine in children, starting from the age of 6 days. The presence of beta-alanine and ninhydrin-positive unidentified Nos. 7, 8a-1, 8d, 9, 10, 11 and 21 is indicative of a greater decrease in the level of the colonization of the digestive tract.     

Immunoenzyme analysis and polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of an intrauterine infection in newborn infants with cerebral lesions

The comparative evaluation of the diagnostic value of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in the detection of intrauterine infection (IUI) in 48 newborn infants with cerebral lesions was made. Tests for the presence of the infective agents of IUI, most frequently occurring in the region (Cytomegalovirus, Herpes simplex virus, Chlamydia trachomatis), were carried out. The levels of serum IgA, IgG and IgM were evaluated in the course of the primary screening of IUI. Laboratory samples for PCR from infants with IUI were selected at random. The study demonstrated that in PCR the frequency of positive results was significantly greater than in EIA.     

Cellular immunity in newborn infants with hyperbilirubinemia]

In order to identify the possibility of prenatal or perinatal bacterial contact with immunization of the cellular immunity system as underlying cause of the "idiopathic" newborn icterus (without blood group incompatibility) the lymphocyte transformation test with addition of streptolysin O or E. coli antigen was carried out in 68 newborns with a birth weight ranging between 1260 and 4200 g. The sensitization rate identified among the newborns with hyperbilirubinaemia did not differ significantly from those of the control group. Thus an ensured connection between a prenatal streptococcus or E. coli contact and the appearance of an idiopathic newborn hyperbilirubinaemia could not be established.     

Role of microbiological surveillance in the choice of antibacterial therapy for intestinal Klebsiella infection in infants

Data on the frequency of intestinal infections caused by Klebsiella spp. in infants at the age of 1 month to 1 year and antibiotic resistance of K. pneumoniae and K. oxytoca isolates from newborns and infants aged 1 month to 1 year are presented. The frequency of the Klebsiella isolates from the newborns and infants at the age of 1 month to 1 year with acute intestinal infections amounted to 17.7 +/- 1.4 and 42.5 +/- 1.4 per cent, respectively. The majority of the clinical strains had a multiple resistance to 7-9 drugs. The overwhelming majority of the strains were sensitive to gentamicin, monomycin, kanamycin, neomycin and polymyxin B.     

The protective activity of 2 normal immunoglobulin preparations for intravenous administration in experimental Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection

The antibody levels in 18 batches of the preparations of human immunoglobulin, Immunovenin and Immunovenin-Intact, for intravenous injection were determined in the enzyme immunoassay with the use of the mixture of P. aeruginosa lipopolysaccharide antigens of seven immunotypes. The average antibody titers in these preparations were identical. The preparations were found to have protective action against P. aeruginosa experimental infection in mice.     

Investigations on the efficacy of monovalent Pseudomonas aeruginosa vaccine for oral administration in Pseudomonas aeruginosa experimental infection

Therapeutic efficacy of Pseudomonas aeruginosa vaccine for oral use (10(10) killed germs/ml), prepared from strain 4922, belonging to serotype XV, by Meitert-Meitert scheme, on 4 experimental models in mice (pneumonia, infected burn, septicaemia and urinary tract infection) was studied in comparison with monovalent Ps. aeruginosa vaccine serotype XV (10(9) killed germs/ml) for subcutaneous use and also with associated administration of the two vaccine variants. Mice immunization by using vaccine for oral use was performed by 0.5 ml vaccine per day, for 10 days and vaccine for subcutaneous use was administrated in a volume of 0.5 ml x 2, at 3 days interval. Mice immunization by using the two vaccine types, in association was concomitantly performed and in the same quantity as for separate immunization. In experimental pneumonia, Ps. aeruginosa vaccine for oral use protected mice in 35% of cases, those with infected burns were protected in 33.3% of cases, those with septicemia--in 96.6% of cases and those with urinary tract infection in 50% of cases. As compared to Ps. aeruginosa vaccine for subcutaneous use, the results obtained by vaccine for oral use are less favourable but associated administration of both vaccine variants led to superior results. Thus, in experimental pneumonia, it was obtained a surviving rate of 65% for animals immunized with both vaccine types, in comparison with 50% for animals immunized with vaccine for subcutaneous use only, and in Ps. aeruginosa infected burn, it was obtained a recovering rate of 79.1% for the animals immunized by using both vaccines, in comparison with 70.8% surviving for animals immunized with vaccine for subcutaneous use. In experimental septicaemia and urinary tract infection, combined use of both vaccine variants determined animals surviving and recovering in percents similar to those obtained by separate administration of vaccine for subcutaneous use (in septicemia--100% protection; in urinary tract infection--75% protection).