Method of the assessment of the degree of immune disturbances in patients with pulmonary tuber- culosis depending on the spectrum of drug resistance of the etiological agent

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the disturbances of cell-mediated immunity, natural resistance and humoral immunity in patients diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis depending on the drug susceptibility spectrum of the etiological agent in order to develop a procedure to identify the degree of severity and pathogenetic types. Material and methodology: a prospective, selective, case-control study was performed, which included 129 new cases of tuberculosis diagnosed during 2017-2018, distributed in groups depending on the spectrum of the drug resistance. Results: immune defficiencies were more evident in patients with MDR-TB, especially in those who acquired the resistance, and cell-mediated immunity was more suppressed, followed by natural resistance. Hyperfunction of the humoral immunity was confirmed in two thirds of all groups. The proposed method can be applied in the evaluation of the immune state in TB patients.