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Mean doses of ionizing radiation, absorbed by children in the Byelarus Republic, were evaluated by EPR dosimetry of tableted samples of milk teeth enamel. A relationship between the doses absorbed by the children and density of radionuclide contamination of the territory of residence was detected. Based on the mean absorbed doses, doses which can be absorbed during 70 years of life were estimated.

Case histories of 81 children and 711 adolescents are analyzed. Specific lesions of the oropharyngeal mucosa have been detected in 43 (53.08%) children and 364 (51.20%) adolescents. Clinical manifestations of diseases of the oral mucosa and location of syphilitic elements and terms of their healing are analyzed.

Periodontal tissues were examined in 29 healthy children and in 91 children with gingival recession aged 6-14 years. The routine indices were higher in patients with gingival recession associated with chronic catarrhal gingivitis and maxillodental abnormalities than in those with only one oral disease.

Salivary specimens of 80 children aged 8-14 years from the Stolin District and of 34 children of the city of Minsk are examined by radial immunodiffusion in gel and by enzyme immunoassay. Residents of a region contaminated with radionuclides (soil contamination with 137Cs 185-555 kBq/m2) develop an imbalance in the production and secretion of specific salivary antibodies: the production of IgM in early periods of immune response is suppressed and the level of IgE is increased.

The content of calcium and phosphorus is decreased and that of fluorine increased in the oral fluid of children whose diet includes fluorinated salt, and the levels of calcium and phosphorus in their dental enamel are increased in comparison with children using common table salt. Three-year consumption of fluorinated salt resulted in a decrease of calcium release and increase of phosphorus release into acid biopsy.

Studies on the epidemiology of infections caused by Herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus in different age groups of the population of the Republic of Belarus, carried out over the period of many years, are summarized. The frequency of clinical manifestations of different forms of herpetic viral pathology in newborns, children and adults in different regions of the republic was studied. More frequent cases of the most severe clinical forms of herpetic viral infections (encephalitides, generalized infection) were noted in persons having immunodeficient states of different etiology, as well as among the population residing on the territory with unfavorable radiation conditions as a consequence of the catastrophe in the Chernobyl nuclear electric power station. For further study of the specific features of the epidemiology of herpetic obligatory registration of all cases of herpetic viral infections, starting from January 1, 1996, was introduced.

Dental status of 1051 children aged 3 to 13 living at Byelorussian territories polluted by radionuclides (Gomel and Mogilev districts) was examined in 1993-1994. Examinations revealed high incidence of caries, poor oral hygiene, high incidence of various pathological shifts in the buccal mucosa and red lips. The temperature and nonspecific resistance of the mucosa were reduced. Changes of the buccal mucosa were more expressed in younger children.

Clinical (n = 137) and virological (n = 50) analysis of the course of herpetic stomatitis in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia was carried out. 97.8 +/- 1.4% of cases were relapses of a chronic herpetic infection, 73.8 +/- 3.7% of cases ran a medium severe or severe course. Herpetic stomatitis in children suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia was characterized by the following features: 1) a high risk of infection generalization; 2) progressive necrosis of tissues in a state of leukopenia; 3) infiltration at the site of necrosis; 4) tissue anemia; and 5) risk of hemorrhage from necrotic sites.

A clinical picture of herpetic stomatitis was studied in 173 newborns, 122 of these preterm and 51 full-term ones, aged 2 to 43 days. Herpesvirus origin of the disease was proved in 68 out of 77 examinees with stomatitis (88.31 +/- 3.66%) by virological and immunofluorescent methods. The authors conclude that herpetic stomatitis in newborns is usually a result of ante- and perinatal infection, with intrauterine infection occurring in 37.57 +/- 3.68% cases.

Examinations of the dental status of 12-year-old children of the same schools of the town of Baranovichi in various years of two decades, from 1970 to 1990, showed an increase in the incidence and intensity of dental caries up to the year 1986. After a program of caries prevention was introduced in 1990, these parameters reduced. Local and systemic prophylactic means were tested and introduced in a complex of prophylactic measures. The best prophylactic effect was attained in children aged 9 administered sodium fluoride tablets since the age of 2 in comparison with the children administered such tablets since the age of 6. Efficacy of fluorine varnish and sealing of fissures on permanent molars with vitacryl was assessed.

Presents the data of analysis of medical files of therapeutic institutions, of questionnaires distributed among dentists, and the results of examinations of 883 children aged 3 to 6, living in 19 towns of Byelorussia. The incidence and clinical picture of a number of dental diseases were found changed in the children living in the regions contaminated with radionuclides, as well as the general well-being of these children.

The status and functional characteristics of the oral cavity organs were studied in 85 children aged 7 to 12 with chronic gastroduodenitis with various gastric acid production and in 32 age-matched healthy children. Under study were mixed saliva pH values, oral mucosa temperature, Iakovets and Iasinovskiĭ's tests, nonspecific resistance of the oral mucosa, that were examined over the course of hospital treatment. The findings evidence a higher dissemination and intensity of caries, a worse status of the oral cavity, and a higher incidence of periodontitis in the children suffering from gastroduodenitis as against the reference group. The patients' salivary pH values were found changed, oral mucosa temperature and defense potential reduced, oral mucosa saturation with ascorbic acid insufficient, and leukocyte migration into the oral cavity increased.

Experimental data are presented, validating the use of low-intensity laser irradiation at a wave length of 633 nm for the treatment of chronic recurrent herpetic stomatitis. Clinical trials were carried out in 167 children. Laser exposure with the optimal stimulating parameters was found to be an effective means for the treatment of children suffering from this condition.

Two groups of children suffering from acute herpetic stomatitis were under study. 214 patients were referred to a group at risk of developing a chronic form of the condition on the basis of mathematical prediction. The immunofluorescent antibody technique was used to detect herpes simplex virus antigen in the peripheral blood leukocytes of healthy children and patients. The studies have shown inadequate humoral and local immunologic defense in the children referred to the risk group; herpes simplex antigen was more often detectable in their blood leukocytes than in the reference group.

Specimens of mixed untreated saliva from 3 groups of children were tested for antibodies to herpes virus by the fluorescent antibody technique (33 children with acute herpes stomatitis, 64 with recurrent herpes stomatitis, and 30 in the control group). Herpes virus antibodies were found in the saliva in 27.2 +/- 7.7% of the cases at the peak of acute stomatitis and in 77.7 +/- 10.0% of cases in the period of epithelization, in 84.6 +/- 10.0% of the examined subjects the antibodies were detected 2-4 months after the disease. Examinations of 64 saliva specimens obtained from the children during one of the relapses of chronic stomatitis demonstrated antibodies more frequently (59.3 +/- 8.0%) than in children at the peak of acute stomatitis disease. A trend for increased antibody content in the saliva of children by the period of epithelization of lesions in the buccal cavity both in acute stomatitis and during relapses of chronic disease was observed. No herpes antibodies were found in saliva specimens from 30 children of the control group.

The results of parenteral (2 to 3 injections of 1.5 to 3 ml once on 3-rd to 4-th day) application of the prepared immunoglobulin with the titer of antiherpetic antibodies of 1:512 to 1:1024 in combined treatment of 2 groups of patients are summarized. In 34 children aged 2 to 12 years recurrent herpetic stomatitis was at its exacerbation. In 27 patients aged 1 to 3 an acute (primary) herpetic stomatitis was present and the group was considered, on grounds of the originally designed prognostic system, as being at high risk of transition into the chronic frequently exacerbating form of the disease. Positive immediate anti-recidive and preventive effect was obtained and confirmed in 12 to 24 months' follow-up.

Immunofluorescent examination of blood smears from 155 children aged from 1 to 11 years with manifestations of herpetic infection in the oral cavity (primary acute stomatitis diagnosed in 108, recurrent in 47) was carried out. Antigens of herpes virus in blood leukocytes from sick children were detected in 50.9 +/- 4.8% of cases of acute stomatitis and in 51.0 +/- 7.3% of cases in the period of exacerbation of chronic stomatitis. Herpes virus antigens were detected significantly more frequently in the specimens obtained in the febrile period and in those collected during the first 3 days of the disease or relapse. Examinations of 30 children of the control group yielded herpes virus antigen in 1 case only.