[Unusual serovar of the causative agent of Flexner's dysentery. I. Its distribution and biochemical properties]

The data on the circulation of some S. flexneri strains in the USSR are presented. The antigenic structure of these strains (type antigen 4 and group antigens 7, 8) is not characteristic of known serological subvariants 4a, 4b or var. X. The time course of changes in their spreading on certain base territories controlled by the All-Union Shigellosis Center in 1980-1983 is shown. The biochemical characteristics of S. flexneri strains IV:7,8 under study, isolated in the USSR and abroad (Czechoslovakia, London) from humans, from a monkey and from the environment, are given. Similarities in the biochemical reactions of these strains with respect to indole, rhamnose, saccharose, maltose, arabinose and raffinose have been revealed. The strains isolated in the USSR have shown differences in the spectra of their resistance to antibiotics, depending on their territorial origin.