[Secondary immunodeficiency syndrome in patients with chronic bronchitis]

To identify secondary immunodeficiency, the author examined 510 patients with various types of chronic bronchitis (CB) and revealed that 82.5% of the examinees had secondary immunodeficiency syndrome which was characterized by immunological alterations: decreased T lymphocyte counts which was most common in patients with obstructive CB, differences in lymphocytic proliferation in response to PGA, which indicates reductions in the functional activity of T cells and in effector links of the immunity system, an increase in the blood levels of circulating immune complexes, imbalance in the ratio of Ig classes. The leading clinical manifestation of patients with secondary immunodeficiency was an infectious process: frequent, advanced or chronic infections. On exacerbation, H. influenza played a great role in the infectious process due to the high activity of an inflammatory process caused by Pneumococcus and due to the impairments of the function and pattern of the mucociliary apparatus of the bronchial tree.