[Sputum microflora in acute pneumonia based on the data from a quantitative study]

In this work the data obtained in the quantitative investigations of sputum samples from 106 miners having acute pneumonia are presented. These investigations were carried out twice at the peak of the disease to determine the possible infective agent. The virological study of nasal impression smears by immunofluorescence and the serological study of paired sera made it possible to establish the viral and bacterial nature of the disease in 12% of cases. The expediency of the quantitative investigations of sputum, carried out twice, in combination with the study of the biological properties of opportunistic microorganisms was shown. Streptococcus pneumoniae proved to play the most important etiological role in the appearance of acute pneumonia in miners. This infective agent was detected in 82% of patients by the inoculation of sputum samples in "diagnostic" dilutions (10(-5) and higher). The associations of pneumococci with staphylococci, hemolytic bacteria and Neisseria were found to be capable of playing a significant role in the development of acute inflammation in pulmonary tissue, especially in those cases when these associations were isolated from highly diluted sputum (10(-5)).