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The tolerability and efficiency of specific chemotherapy with albendazole were analyzed in 18 patients with cystic echinococcosis at various sites. The most common complication of albendazole treatment was its hepatotoxic effect. Al- bendazole chemotherapy during at least its 3 cycles was observed to be highly effective in preventing recurrent echinococ- cosis in children. If there were small-sized hydatid cysts in the liver and lung, there was a reduction in their number and sizes after 4-5 albendazole treatment cycles.

The paper presents information on the technological methods aimed at improving the diagnosis and prevention of parasitic diseases.

Fungi of the genus Paecilomyces, a causative agent of the fungal disease paecilomycosis, have been found in the blood of productive animals (sheep, cattle, pigs, goats) that are carriers of Echinococcus larvocysts. In the Republic of Uzbekistan, the echinococcosis affection of sheep, cattle, pigs, and goats continues to remain high. Domestic fowls (chickens, turkeys, and gooses) have been established to be blood carriers of Paecilomyces fungi, which is also true for wild birds, such as my-lady's-belts, quails, chukars, and crows. The degree of fungal affection has been also established for birds.

Experiments were carried out on 35 lambs infected with echinococcus eggs taken from canine donors, 5 lambs with echinococcosis, 5 lambs with echinococcosis + paecilomycosis, 5 lambs with coenurosis, 5 with cysticercosis ovis, 5 with alveococcosis, 5 with paecilomycosis, inoculated by the material taken from patients; and 5 healthy lambs formed a control group. Cystic hydatidosis was found to induce substantial cardiovascular changes.

The authors have detected atypical paecilomycosis-associated myocarditis with impaired amino acid exchange and pain syndrome for the first time. At first, pain occurs in the chest and radiates into the axilla, to the left arm to the finger tips, by paralyzing the arm. In some patients, pain manifests itself in both arms with radiation to the belly, by accompanying by fainting. The skin is wet, cold; the pulse is frequent and of poor volume and difficult-to-count. Heart pain spreads into the armpit and down the arm, by making the fingers numb. Attempts to use current analgesics (movalis, sirdalud, nimesil, morphine) in combination with fungicides (diflucan, mycosist, orungal) have failed to yield positive results. The homeopathic drug Latrodectus mactans, prepared from caracurt venom, in combination with the authors' designed diet and other homeopathic agents have relieved pain syndrome and normalized amino acid exchange, which offered possibilities for successful surgical treatment for echinococcosis with later recovery.

This investigation was undertaken to study the associations of the polymorphic variants of the HLA-DRBI and HLA-DQB1 loci with the development of cystic echinococcosis in children. The material for the investigation was collected from 57 children admitted for surgery to the clinic of the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Orthopedics, and Anesthesiology, Bashkir State Medical University (Ufa). The PROTRANS kit (Germany) was used to isolate DNA samples from peripheral venous blood served as an object of the investigations. HLA specificities were typed by polymerase chain reaction. Molecular genetic studies established the association of DRB1*07, DQB1*0.9, DQB1*02 specificities with the increased risk of cystic echinococcosis in children. The echinococcosis cyst suppuration-complicated course of the disease was found to be more frequently encountered in DQB1*02 and DRB1*03 allele carriers.

The diagnostic effectiveness of instrumental analysis of the concentration of specific antibodies, which was expressed in antibody units and titers, was compared in the test system of enzyme immunoassay using Echinococcus granulosus on 76 serum samples from patients with echinococcosis. The factors of possible influence on the instrumental readings of enzyme immunoassay are presented. A correlation was found in the specific antibody concentrations expressed in antibody units and titers.

Two hundred and twenty-two serum samples from patients infected with Toxocara, 374 from those infected with Echinococcus alveolaris, and 200 from healthy blood donors, which were screened in the enzyme immunoassay system, were used to assess an instrumental method for considering the assay results expressed in antibody units (AU), A direct correlation was found between the values of the intensity of an immune response in the infected, which were expressed in AU and titers routinely used for this purpose. Introducing the optic density index, standardized by the manufacturer of a reference test-positive sample kit, into the formula to calculate AU reduces possible variations in the assay results both between different batches and within one batch of kits.

The paper presents the results of designing a technology for the manufacture of enzyme immunoassay kits to detect class G antibodies to the Echinococcus granulosus antigen EgF with a molecular weight of 16.7 kDa in sheep. According to the results of field trials on flocks of sheep from various age groups, the diagnostic efficiency of the test system was 78.1% sensitivity and 73.9% specificity. The proposed test system may be used during mass sheep screenings for the epizootic monitoring of the prevalence ofechinococcosis in the Russian Federation, for the serological diagnosis of this disease in the female livestock at the level of a flock.

The recombinant Echinococcus antigens EgF and EgB were prepared and purified by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography (800 and 780 mg, respectively being obtained). Four vaccinating complexes, the major component of which were the recombinant antigens EgF and EgB, were developed and tested in an experiment on rabbits. The time course of changes in antibody genesis was studied during a single immunization of the animals with the biological agent EgFB with different adjuvants for 120 days. The adjuvant substances ensuring as components of the biological agent EgFB a long circulation of specific antibodies to the Echinococcus antigens in the blood flow of the immunized animals (complete Freund's adjuvant, multicomponent oil emulsion) are presented.

Twenty six piglets aged 25 days divided into 4 groups (Groups 1 and 4 included 5 piglets and Groups 2 and 3 comprised 8 ones) were selected. The piglets from Groups 1, 2, and 3 were peritoneally inoculated with 5000 protoscolices and acephalocysts from the cyst of human Echinococcus granulosus by the procedure [4]. Group 4 piglets were not inoculated they served as a control group. Prior to infection, the animals were weighed and their blood was analyzed by the conventional procedure. On day 90 following inoculation, the piglets were killed. All the infected piglets developed Echinococci which grew rapidly, some larvocysts measured as high as 34 mm in diameter and contained alive protoscolices. The Echinococcus-infected animals were found to have changes in blood composition, impaired protein-amino acid metabolism, lower living mass as compared to the controls. The inoculation of embryonic elements of echinococcosis from ill humans to pigs is a model of this disease, which is promising for medical studies.

The use of mebendazole as a suspension in vegetable oil enhanced the efficiency of treating experimental Echinococcus granulosus infection in outbred albino rats without increasing the dose of the drug. A sharp reduction in platelet count in the blood of the infected animals treated and untreated suggests that thrombohemorrhagic complications might be in echinococcosis. Thrombopenia in the treated animals appeared to be steady-state. A decrease in a rapid immune response in the mebendazole-treated rats, as compared to the untreated ones, is likely to be a consequence of a significant fall of antigenic immune stimulation due to suppression of the parasite's viability with the drug and to be an indicator of therapeutical efficiency.

Increasing mebendazole bioavailability is one of the most important problems to be solved in echinococcosis chemotherapy. The method of mebendazole administration with sunflower oil, elaborated by the authors, serves to this purpose: drug concentration exceeding the minimal effective one was attained in 86% patients treated with mebendazole and sunflower oil and only in 40% patients treated with the drug alone.