[Changes in the biological properties of the pertussis microbe exposed to antibiotics].

Experimental modeling of the process of variation of the pertussis causative agent grown on the casein-carbon agar medium with subtoxic doses of the widely used antibiotics was performed. Significant changes in the morphological, cultural and serological properties of the pertussis microbe, in its sensitivity to the antibiotics and bacteriocins, in the activity of glutamine synthetase and in the electrophoretic mobility of the protein components were shown. The antigen structure determined with the method of immune electrophoresis in the agar gel and the biochemical properties were the stable characteristics defining the population taxonomic position as Bordetella pertussis. Possible occurrence of atypical strains of the pertussis causative agent in the patients with the cough syndrome treated with the antibiotics is indicated. It is suggested that antibiotics may play a significant role in redistribution of subpopulations with different functional properties in the population of the pertussis microbe.