Cherchenko I I, Dyatlov A I
J Hyg Epidemiol Microbiol Immunol. 1976;20(2):221-8.
The possibilities of detection of the infectious agent in natural foci of plague can be expanded to some extent by using the method of search for the specific FI capsular antigen of the plague microbe in such objects of the external environment which have not yet been subjected to laboratory analysis and serological analysis in particular. Such objects include soil from the burrow and the substrate of the nest of the rodent as well as the fleas of rodents and regurgitations of birds of prey. The effectivity and suitability of examination of these objects using immuno-adsorption reactions with standard erythrocyte diagnostics (passive haemagglutination reaction, antibody neutralization reaction) were demonstrated experimentally and confirmed under field conditions in various geographical and ecological zones of the Caucasus. Thus in 1971, an earlier unknown natural focus of plague was found in the Mount Elbrus massif by means of serological analysis of the substrate of the nest and of the soil from the burrows of rodents. It can be expected that broadened serological search for the FI antigen of plague will prove useful in the study of the structure of natural foci of plague, in the reconnaissance or retrospective investigation of poorly explored territories and in the solution of some questions concerning the epizootiology of plague, such as the survival of the infectious agent in the inter-epizootic period, telluric plague, etc.
通过在尚未进行实验室分析尤其是血清学分析的外部环境物体中，采用寻找鼠疫微生物特异性FI荚膜抗原的方法，在一定程度上可以扩大在鼠疫自然疫源地检测传染源的可能性。这些物体包括洞穴土壤、啮齿动物巢穴的基质以及啮齿动物的跳蚤和猛禽的反刍物。通过与标准红细胞诊断法进行免疫吸附反应（被动血凝反应、抗体中和反应）对这些物体进行检测的有效性和适用性已在实验中得到证明，并在高加索地区不同地理和生态区域的野外条件下得到证实。因此，1971年，通过对啮齿动物巢穴基质和洞穴土壤进行血清学分析，在厄尔布鲁士山地块发现了一个此前未知的鼠疫自然疫源地。可以预期，扩大对鼠疫FI抗原的血清学搜索，将在研究鼠疫自然疫源地结构、勘察或回顾调查勘探不足的地区以及解决一些有关鼠疫 epizootiology 的问题（如传染源在 epizootic 间期的存活、土壤鼠疫等）方面证明是有用的。
