[Problems of ante mortem diagnostics of prion diseases].

The review presents the state-of-the-art on the problem of diagnosis of prion diseases (PD) in humans and animals with a brief description of their etiology and pathogenesis. We pointed out that understanding the nature of the etio logical agent of PD determined their zoonotic potential and led to the development of highly specific immunological diagnostic methods aimed at identifying the infectious isoform of prion protein (PrPd) as the only marker of the disease. In this regard, we briefly summarize the results of studies, including our own, concerning the conversion of normal prion protein molecules (PrPc) to PrPd, the production of monoclonal antibodies and their application as immunodiagnostic reagents for the post-mortem detection of PrPd in various formats of immunoassay.

[Prion diseases and the biosecurity problems.].

The review presents the current state of the problem of prions and prion diseases with an emphasis on theepidemiological and epizootological risks of pathogens that cause fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals. The results of molecular genetic studies of the conversion of normal PrP prion protein molecules to infectious forms of PrP, resistance to physical disinfection methods, in particular exceptional thermal stability, and their ability to overcome interspecific barriers, while increasing virulence, are described. The possibility of infection not only by nutrition, when eating even heat-treated meat of sick animals, but also due to surgical interventions, especially neurosurgical and ophthalmic, as well as the use of immunobiological preparations, are emphasized.

Human rotavirus infection. Strategies for the vaccinal prevention.

Rotavirus was first isolated in 1973 in Australia from children with diarrhea. Hundreds of thousands of children die annually in developing countries from this virus with the mortality peaks in the most impoverished among them. According to wHo, rotavirus infection claims about 440 thousands children lives each year, being third in the mortality rate after pneumonia and malaria.

[Methods for diagnosis of prion diseases].

The epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom, its related occurrence of a new type of Creutzfeld-Jacob disease and proven cases of this type of the disease transmitted by blood transfusion initiated intensive studies to develop a inexpensive, prompt, and sensitive method for the early lifetime diagnosis of prion diseases. This would permit initiation of the timely treatment of the patients and prevention of contamination of foodstuffs. However, despite significant progress made in this direction, this objective has not yet been achieved.