Vol 57, No 1S (2012)

In the present review, the current knowledge of the kingdom of viruses and their place in the biosphere have been summarized. The three hypotheses about the origin of viruses have been described, ecological flexibility viruses has been marked.

The timetable of vaccinations with the use of standard vaccine doses and rigid schedule of inoculations standardizes the vaccination conditions for the majority of human population, and it is designed for a person having an average level of immune reactivity. However, people react differently to the same vaccine. Persons having a weak reaction to a vaccine may react strongly to another vaccine. For this reason the development of means and techniques for the regulation of immune reactivity to vaccination is highly desirable. This will ensure the protection of weakly reacting persons against infection and prevent hyperimmunization of strongly reacting persons. The principles of the immune correction of the vaccinated persons have to be applied, first of all, to high risk groups. All the variations of vaccine doses and inoculation schedules, as well as the use of other means and techniques of immune response correction, have to be supported by reliable data, considered and accepted in accordance with the acting rules.

The TBE virus was discovered in 1937 by members of L.A. Zilber expedition on the territory of Far East of USSR. Within 3 month, 29 strains of TBE from patients and died people and Ixodes persulcatus ticks were isolated. Just two strains, Sofjin and Obor-4, preserved. During 1939-1945 M.P. Chumakov discovered TBE natural foci the Far East in Ural, Siberia, Kazakhstan and European part of the USSR. He proved the significance of TBEV in etiology of chronic TBE and stated for the first time that Ixodes ricinus ticks are transmitters of TBEV in the western regions of the areal. M.P. Chumakov’s collection is a unique collection of earliest strains of TBEV. Authors performed a genetic assessment of RNA specimens extracted directly from a lyophilized virus stored for 60 to 65 years long, and recovered from the collection strains also. Retrospectively, a fact of belonging of strains to the Far Eastern, European, and Siberian subtypes was stated. Unusual strains which contain fragments of NS1 and Е protein genes of both the Far Eastern and Siberian subtypes are revealed. Genetic peculiarities and virulence of the collection and modern strains of TBEV were studied.

Hepatitis C is the most significant public health problem among viral hepatitis with parenteral transmission. First of all, this is due to the global spread of the infection, high levels of morbidity, the ability to form chronic infection, leading to cirrhosis, to primary liver cancer. An addition, hepatitis C virus is able to infect and cause pathological changes in different kind of human organs. At the same time, there is still no vaccine against hepatitis C, and the medicines currently used, still little effective, expensive and not to be harmless to the person. There remains an urgent need for the implementation of the monitoring, development of new methods of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of hepatitis C. Given review presents data on hepatitis C virus characteristics, especially the spread of the virus and its genotypes in the world, including in the Russian Federation, results of clinical manifestations study, data on the epidemiology of the infection in recent years. The results of recent in vivo and in vitro studies on experimental modeling of hepatitis C virus infection which are led to create a collection of hepatitis C virus strains suitable for the development of new diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive medicines. Analysis of published data concerning development of vaccines and hepatitis C treatments is carried out.

In this review, the basic characteristics of African swine fever (ASF), especially its spread in Russian Federation, as well as the factors that must be considered for a program to eradicate the disease have been considered.

The hemagglutinin of influenza virus is a highly variable surface glycoprotein. 17 antigenic subtypes of the influenza A virus hemagglutinin have been described. The hemagglutinin is the primary target of virus-neutralizing antibodies. The location and structure of the antigenic sites in the hemagglutinin molecule of the influenza A virus H3 subtype were revealed three decades ago. Later the antigenic sites of H1 and H2 subtypes were mapped with the use of the H3 three-dimensional model, the only one available at the time. Preliminary data on the location of antigenic sites of the H5 hemagglutinin were also presented. After the X-ray crystallographic structures of the H5 and H9 hemagglutinins were reported, we performed the mapping of the antigenic structure of the H5 and H9 hemagglutinins in greater detail. The virus mutants resistant to monoclonal antibodies (escape mutants) were selected and used in immune cross-reactions with the monoclonal antibodies. The mutant hemagglutinin genes were sequenced, and the location of the antigenically relevant amino acid residues in the three-dimensional structure of the hemagglutinin molecule was determined. For the H5 subtype two antigenic sites analogous to sites A and B of the H3 subtype were revealed at the lateral loop and at the distal end of the hemagglutinin globule. After the appearance and spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus we performed the antigenic mapping of its hemagglutinin. The mapping revealed a rapid evolution of the antigenic structure of the H5 hemagglutinin. This conclusion was confirmed by the analysis of amino acid positions recognized by monoclonal antibodies against A/duck/Novosibirsk/56/05 (H5N1) influenza virus isolated at the Virus Ecology Department of the D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology and belonging to the Qinghai-Siberian variant having spread in Western Siberia, Europe, Africa and Middle East. The H9 hemagglutinin was shown to differ sharply from any subtype analyzed so far, since it did not contain an antigenic site corresponding to site A in the H3 subtype. After the appearance and spread of the pandemic 2009 influenza H1N1 virus, we mapped the amino acid positions recognized by the monoclonal antibodies against the strain A/IIVMoscow/01/09 (H1N1) pdm09, the first strain of the pandemic 2009 virus isolated in Russia at the Virus Ecology Department of the D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology. The amino acid changes in the hemaglutinin of the escape mutants occurred in a limited area of the hemagglutinin globule, and they induced a decrease of the hemagglutinin affinity to the sialic analogs of cell receptors, which may explain a limited range of antigenic drift of the 2009 pandemic virus.

Viral infections are the main causes (> 90 %) of human diseases. List of preventive antiviral vaccines are still limited. That’s why different drugs combinations and approaches for the etiotropic, pathogenetic, symptomatic therapy and immunocorrection are used as tools in viral infections cases. The above preparations have different chemical composition, mechanisms of action and activity spectrums. This paper summarizes recent data and perspective tendencies aimed to improve antiviral treatment and cure. Antiviral drugs of specific action (that inhibit different stages of viral reproduction), interferons and immunomodulators are discussed in detail.

Results of prospective open comparing clinical investigation of Ingavirin ® (n=184) and Tamiflu ® (n=184) efficiency for influenza A (H1N1) pdm09 therapy performed during 20102011 epidemiological season are presented. Data obtained confirm the necessity of early stage antiviral treatment and testify that Ingavirin ® is effective antiviral drug being comparable with Tamiflu ®.