No 2 (2016)

Objective. To assess the awareness of healthcare personnel regarding the possible role of glucometers in transmitting healthcare-associated infections. Materials and methods. Physicians of different specialties, nurses, and patients with different abnormalities from various medical institutions were surveyed in the subjects of the Russian Federation. A total of 1371 people took part in the study on a voluntary basis. The results were processed by up-to-date statistical methods. Results. A complex sociomedical survey revealed varying awareness about the role of glucometers as transmitting factors for healthcare-associated infections among the healthcare personnel. The latter was found to consider the disinfection of the glucometer case ambiguously. 23% of the physicians were sure that the glucometer should be disinfected after each use. The majority (69%) of nurses denied that the glucometers might be contaminated with blood. A substantial proportion of patients were also unaware of this. 20% of the patients had given their individual glucometer to other people for use. Conclusion. The findings suggest that both the personnel and patients are little aware of the possible epidemiological risk of glucometers.

Objective. To investigate the spread of human herpesviruses (HHV) and high-risk human papillomaviruses (hrHPV) in the urogenital tract, by analyzing their viral load in men with infertility and inflammatory diseases of the urogenital tract, and to evaluate the effect of these viruses on the quality of sperm. Subjects and methods. A total of 605 patients with infertility and inflammatory diseases of the urogenital tract were examined. A real-time PCR assay was used to determine viral DNA in the clinical materials (ejaculate, urethral scrape, and prostate fluid). The key indicators of sperm were studied according to the WHO guidelines). Results. HHV DNA and hrHPV DNA in the ejaculate were detected in a total of 142 (32.5%) patients. Examination of the three materials (ejaculate, urethral scrape, and prostate fluid) from patients with an exacerbation of chronic prostatitis showed that 67 (51.9%) cases had viral DNA. HHV in mono- and mixed infections were found in 98 (22.4%) ejaculates, HHV-6 being more common than cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus ((10.3, 6.6, and 5.5%, respectively). hrHPV DNA was detected in the ejaculates of 78 (17.8%) patients. Viral DNA was found in the ejaculate of none of the healthy men. There were combinations of the viruses in the ejaculates in 6.9% of the patients, these being statistically significantly more frequent in the men with inflammatory diseases of the urogenital tract than in those with infertility, but without inflammatory diseases. Quantitative analysis of viral DNA showed that more than 30% of the ejaculates contained hrHPV at a clinical concentration (> 3 lg/105 cells) and 10.5% had these at a high risk concentrations (> 5 lg/105 cells). Comparative analysis of spermograms established a statistically significant decrease in sperm motility and a smaller number of morphologically normal forms of spermatozoids in the patients with inflammatory diseases of the urogenital tract. Conclusion. Detection of the viruses in the male urogenital tract is associated with diminished fertility and with a high viral load suggests that there is a high risk for the unfavorable development of infect, including oncogenesis. The findings allow for the recommendation of virological examination of patients with infertility and inflammatory diseases of the urogenital tract, by applying molecular methods for quantitative analysis.

This article presents systematized and generalized data on the current global Zika fever epidemic situation, considers the patterns of its formation and development, and gives general information on the etiology and environment of the pathogen, and clinical and diagnostic features. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of the manifestations of an epidemic process and to the Russian Federation-adapted scientifically sound system for the surveillance and control of this infection.

Antigens are crucial and regulatory external factors for immunogenesis. The weak ability of the host immune system to successfully resist invasion has been groundlessly associated with the low immunogenicity of helminths for a long time. In fact, numerous studies have shown that helminths are absolutely fully antigenic. The most important fact is that they have a certain set of specific mechanisms simultaneously ensuring the avoidance of host protective factors and the elaboration of essential products that regulate the function of the respective host genes that provide the relative safe passage of the parasite from one environmental niche to another (the host). Recently, scientists could make progress in solving this enigma and decipher some mechanisms by which the parasites manipulate host homeostasis and immunity. It turns out that during evolution the parasite has developed a great variety of effective mechanisms to mask their own antigens and those to attenuate the immune response of the host (man) due to immunosuppression and induction of self-tolerance.

The incidence of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) among children is sporadic in most cases. A clinical and epidemiological analysis of its incidence was carried out in a summer health camp where in June to September 2014 five patients, including 4 schoolchildren and 1 teacher, fell ill. The diagnosis of HFRS was confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence. The disease was moderate; two children had signs of acute abdomen. The disease was due to that the rodents had appeared in the camp because of their access to the buildings (summer cottages) and the children had been involved in the dry cleaning of the camp’s area. It is noted that the most important measure to prevent the outbreaks of the disease in the organized children’s collective bodies is to exclude the penetration of rodents into the rooms where the children live and to create a barrier (including deratization measures) during their migration from natural biotopes.