[The clinical value of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with different biological properties]

The main biological properties (including viability, drug resistance and virulence) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, identified in 180 newly-diagnosed patients with different forms of destructive pulmonary tuberculosis and living in Leningrad, North-Western and Extreme Northern regions, were studied as compared with those identified in 40 patients with chronic destructive pulmonary tuberculosis. The viability of M. tuberculosis by their growth and mass increase rates has a prognostic importance and should be taken into account in choosing an appropriate chemotherapy. The use of a standard method of absolute concentrations to determine the M. tuberculosis drug resistance is quite sufficient in clinical practice to introduce corrections into antituberculous chemotherapy. No correlation between M. tuberculosis virulence, and the course of tuberculous process and its treatment efficacy was found.