Vol 58, No 1 (2013)

In 1958 Poliomyelitis Institute in Moscow and Institute of Experimental Medicine in St. Petersburg received from A. Sabin the attenuated strains of poliomyelitis virus. The characteristics of the strains were thoroughly studied by A. A. Smorodintsev and coworkers. They found that the virulence of the strains fluctuated slightly in 10 consecutive passages through the intestine of the non-immune children. A part of the Sabin material was used by A. A. Smorodintsev and M. P. Chumakov in the beginning of 1959 for immunizing approximately 40000 children in Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. Epidemic poliomyelitis rate in these republics decreased from approximately 1000 cases yearly before vaccination to less than 20 in the third quarter of 1959. This was a convincing proof of the efficacy and safety of the vaccine from the attenuated Sabin strains. In 1959, according to A. Sabin’s recommendation, a technology of live vaccine production was developed at the Poliomyelitis Institute, and several experimental lots of vaccine were prepared. In the second part of 1959, 13.5 million children in USSR were immunized. The epidemic poliomyelitis rate decreased 3-5 times in different regions without paralytic cases, which could be attributed to the vaccination. These results were the final proof of high efficiency and safety of live poliomyelitis vaccine from the attenuated Sabin strains. Based on these results, A. Sabin and M. P. Chumakov suggested in 1960 the idea of poliomyelitis eradication using mass immunization of children with live vaccine. 72 million persons up to 20 years old were vaccinated in USSR in 1960 with a 5 times drop in the paralytic rate. 50-year-long use of live vaccine results in poliomyelitis eradication in almost all countries worldwide. More than 10 million children were rescued from the death and palsy. Poliomyelitis eradication in a few countries where it still exists depends not on medical services but is defined by the attitude of their leaders to fight against poliomyelitis. In some developing countries the vaccination data are falsified, thereby threatening the polio epidemics reappearance and the virus spreading to other countries. Methods must be developed for detection and dealing with extremely rare persistent virus carriers. Because of all these constraints the outcome of poliomyelitis eradication at present is uncertain and vaccination must be continued. The world has become poliovaccine dependent.

The goal of this work was to examine the effects of infections caused by HSV1/2, CMV, and HPV on the cytokine profile in pregnant women with obstetric complications (OC) and to evaluate the efficacy of the therapy with recombinant human α2b interferon. Direct markers of the viruses were identified using PCR and rapid culture method in 85 pregnant women divided into 3 groups: group 1 (n = 21), women with visual HPV-related clinical manifestations; group 2 (n = 48), with detectable markers of viral infections and no clinical manifestations, and group 3 consisting of pregnant women with OC without markers and clinical manifestations of viral infections (n = 16). The rate of HPV DNA detection in pregnant women was higher than that of herpesviruses (HV) CMV and/ or HSV: 37.6% vs. 11.8%. The frequency of mixed HV/HPV infection in group 1 was 2.3-fold higher than in group 2. The cytokine levels of IFNα, IFNγ, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, and TNFα in blood plasma and vaginal washings were studied. Statistically significant differences in infected women (groups 1 and 2) in comparison with uninfected women (group 3) were detected: а) blood plasma concentration of IFNγ increased in clinically manifested HPV infection; b) blood plasma IL-8 concentration increased in clinically manifested HPV and in mixed HV+HPV infections without clinical symptoms of HPV infection; c) blood plasma concentration of TNFa increased in women with asymptomatic HPV-infection; d) IL-6 concentration in vaginal washings increased in mixed infection in group 1. The effect of IFN-α2b was assessed by analyzing cytokine levels in women on basic therapy with and without Viferon®. In infected women, Viferon® caused a 2-3-fold decrease in the concentrations of IFNγ and IL-8 in blood plasma, thus bringing them near those of uninfected women with OC. The analysis of the state of newborns health has shown that for women with OC the risk of giving birth to a child in critical condition is 4.3-fold higher when CMV is detected in the third trimester of pregnancy.

The emergent 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic brought into acute focus the problem of choosing the most effective anti-influenza drugs for successive influenza infection spreading control. Oseltamivir and zanamivir, influenza virus neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs), were recommended by the WHO experts for the treatment and prevention of influenza, including that caused by pandemic strains. A major concern regarding the use of specific antiviral compounds is the emergence of the drug-resistant strains. Oseltamivir carboxylate and zanamivir IC 50 values were equal to 0.3-5.2 pM for the most of A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic strains and 1.6-8.6 pM for the strains of influenza B virus in cell-based ELISA assay (2009-2010 season). All the studied strains of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (151) and B (22) viruses were sensitive to NAIs (2009-2011 seasons). For the first time in Russia oseltamivir-resistant A(H1N1) pdm09 influenza virus was isolated from the patient on the 5th day of a treatment course of this drug.

There is a high degree of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Moscow region. The analysis of different HCV subtypes is caused by the necessity of prognostic estimation of predominant subtypes for the near future because new schemes of antiviral therapy for several HCV genotypes are developed. It is established that subtype 1b (52.1%) prevails in Moscow region. The increase of subtype 3а (37.2%) against the decrease in subtype 1b is observed. In patients infected before 1990 HCV subtype 1b is predominant and liver cirrhosis is detected in 46.7% of cases. The intergenotypic recombinant 2k/1b is registered with the frequency of 0.8% and about 2% of cases of mixed HCV subtypes are detected.

The results of the biological property investigation of two Newcastle virus strains isolated in Northern Caucasian region - NDV/Adigeya/duck/8/2008 and NDV/Adigeya/duck/15/2008 - were presented. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that these strains belonged to genotype 7 of clade 2. Using molecular-biological analysis of established nucleotide sequences including proteolytic site of fusion peptide it was demonstrated that the strains were velogenic. This conclusion was proved by testing the pathogenicity on the model of intracerebral infected chickens (ICPI - IntraCerebral Pathogenic Index - was found to be 2). Pathomorphological study of dead chickens made it possible to classify strains as neurotropic with low level of visceral tropism.