| Abstract: | The diagnostic possibilities of the microscopic examination of bronchial secretion smears, stained by Gram's method, from 56 children with chronic bronchitis at different stages of exacerbation have been studied. The following criteria have been proposed for confirming the etiological role of pneumococci in cases of endobronchitis in children: the number of paired diplococci in the visual field must exceed 10 with polynuclears covering the whole field. In 84% of cases the use of this method makes it possible to determine the pneumococcal etiology of the disease within two hours from the arrival of the pathological material to a bacteriological laboratory; this method can also be used for evaluating the effectiveness of antibacterial therapy at its different stages. |
