Detection of human papillomavirus DNA in gynaecological swabs by filter in situ hybridization.

Gynaecological smears from the endo- and ectocervix of women with and without cytological and colposcopic abnormalities of the epithelium were investigated for human papillomavirus (HPV) types 6, 11, 16, and 18 by filter in situ hybridization (FISH). The data were compared with cytological, colposcopic, and histological findings. Of the 266 gynaecological smears, HPV DNA was detected in 84 (32%); of 101 cytologically and colposcopically HPV negative cases, HPV DNA was found in 10%.

[The diagnosis of human papillomaviruses in cervical smears by deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization].

The method of filter in situ hybridization is applied for diagnostics of human papilloma viruses of the types 11, 16 and 18 in cervical smears [correction of frictions]. The results of the hybridization of 30 cell materials with clonal virus DNA probes proved the existence of human papilloma viruses in 15 patients. The precision of the filter in situ hybridization is demonstrated by comparing the results of the cytological study to the existence of HPV DNA in the same materials proved by in situ DNA hybridization.

Five year study of rotavirus gastroenteritis in Bulgaria.

We tested by electron microscopy 7,530 samples from children admitted to different hospitals in Sofia between February 1981 and February 1986; from these, rotaviruses were found in 725 (9.6%) faecal samples. Electron microscopic analysis of 264 samples from 181 children admitted to the hospital of infectious diseases in Shumen between December 1984 to February 1986 revealed rotaviruses in 120 (66.

Seroepidemiology of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Bulgaria.

During the period of 1954-1986, 399 cases of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) were registered in Bulgaria with 63 (15.7%) deaths. Three hundred serum samples from 214 patients who had contracted the disease from 1957 to 1986 were investigated by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IF-AT).

Detection of antigenically distinct rotaviruses from infants.

Antigenically distinct rotaviruses, i.e., viruses morphologically identical to conventional rotaviruses by electron microscopy, yet lacking the common group antigen(s) detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, were found in 2 of 51 fecal samples from Bulgarian infants with rotavirus gastroenteritis.

Epidemiological, clinical, and pathomorphological characteristics of epidemic poliomyelitis-like disease caused by enterovirus 71.

In May-September, 1975, an outbreak of epidemic disease clinically and pathomorphologically simulating nearly all known forms of poliomyelitis occurred predominantly among young infants in Bulgaria. Most cases presented benign aseptic meningitis, sometimes with a short period of general cerebra- symptoms. Paralytic forms, such as bulbar polioencephalitis, anterior poliomyelitis, isolated pareses of the facial nerve, occasional cases of encephalomyocarditis, etc.

Enterovirus 71 isolated from cases of epidemic poliomyelitis-like disease in Bulgaria.

Virological and serological studies of an epidemic disease in Bulgaria, 1975, were carried out. Epidemiologically, clinically and pathomorphologically, the disease simulated almost all known forms of poliomyelitis, acute stem encephalitis, encephalomyocarditis and aseptic meningitis. The studies completely rules out the participation of polioviruses and provided comprehensive evidence for the etiological role of a peculiar enterovirus subsequently identified as enterovirus (EV) type 71 known in the literature since 1974.