[Adaptation mechanisms in the formation of the Corynebacterium diphtheriae carrier state]

Abstract

The complex clinico-laboratory examination of 92 children aged 3-14 years with the localized form of stomatopharyngeal diphtheria and toxigenic C. diphtheriae (TCD) carrier state was carried out. The children were hospitalized in the clinic of drop infections during the period of 1996-1998. The hydrophobic properties, adhesive, lysozyme, antilysozyme and DNAase activities of 92 TCD strains, as well as the levels of the specific and nonspecific immunity of the macroorganism, were studied. The study revealed that the character of the infectious process in TCD carrier state was determined by the degree of the colonization activity of the infective agent. Direct correlation between the time of the persistence of TCD in the body and their hydrophobic properties, adhesive and antilysozyme activities (with r = 0.89-0.93) was established. The duration of TCD carrier state was found to be inversely related to the electrophysiological state of epithelial cells of the mucosa, the level of humoral specific antibacterial immunity and the content of local antidiphtheria IgA.