[Experience with the diagnosis of dysentery in adults by determining antibodies to Shigella in the saliva].

Concentration of immunoglobulins and titres of antibodies to Sh. sonnei, Sh. flexneri and enteropathogenic E. coli 0111 was determined in mixed saliva and the blood serum of patients suffering from Sonne dysentery, acute intestinal diseases of unknown etiology, and healthy individuals. The sum total immunoglobulin concentration in mixed saliva proved to be 53--81 times less than in the blood serum, but in the first substrate there was 53--75, and in the second--15% of immunoglobulin A. There proved to be distinct changes in the specific IgA-antibodies in the saliva of patients with Sonne dysentery. A preponderant accumulation of IgG-antibodies was noted in the blood serum. Elevation of both types of antibodies was maximal during the second week of the disease. Sonne dysentery was diagnosed in 80% of the patients by recording the intensity of shifts in the specific antibodies in the saliva, and in 63%--in the blood. The expediency of immunological testing of saliva for the diagnosis of dysentery is substantiated.