Monitoring compliance with the rules of antiseptics and decontamination by dental students at work.

Dental personnel are potentially exposed to pathogenic microorganisms, as well as to possible sources of infection. The same is true for dental students, for whom it is crucial to acquire knowledge on infection control and appropriate dental techniques during their training.

Stochastic modelling of scalar time series of varicella incidence for a period of 92 years (1928-2019).

Introduction: Varicella is an acute, highly contagious disease, characterised by generalised vesicular exanthema caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV) which usually affects children aged 2 to 8 years.

Aim: To analyse the changes of varicella incidence in Bulgaria over the period of 1928-2019.

Materials And Methods: The time series analysis is based on the official data for varicella incidence (per 100,000) in Bulgaria for ninety-two years (1928-2019), obtained from three major sources.

Epidemiological Prognosis of Pertussis Incidence in Bulgaria.

Introduction: Epidemiological forecasting facilitates scientifically sound solutions to upcoming theoretical and practical issues, in the development of public health management, in particular of infectious diseases.

Aim: To critically analyze the most recent scientific advances in the biosocial nature and methodology of epidemiological forecasting to present a real-life example of pertussis, a disease with shifting epidemiology.

Materials And Methods: For the prediction of pertussis morbidity the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) the model was established by utilizing the method of time series analysis to construct a model of overall morbidity using Time series modeller in SPSS v.

Bisphosphonate-associated Osteonecrosis of the Jaws: a Survey of the Level of Knowledge of Dentists about the Risks of Bisphosphonate Therapy.

Introduction: Bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis of the jaws (BAONJ) is a side effect of treatment with bisphosphonate (BP). Reports of this complication have increased recently.

Aim: To evaluate the level of knowledge of dentists from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, about possible complications of bisphosphonate therapy of patients in dental practice.

Mediterranean spotted fever--classification by disease course and criteria for determining the disease severity.

Introduction: Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) in Bulgaria is caused by Ricketsia conorii conorii with a major vector the dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. The first cases of re-emerging MSF were reported in this country in the early 1990s after some 20 years of absence and then registered an annual increase until 2001-2003 after which the disease prevalence declined. MSF still poses a serious health problem in the country as severe, complicated cases with lethal outcome occur.

Immune response and immunologic memory in medical personnel vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine.

Unlabelled: The occupation-related nature of Hepatitis B viral infection in medical personnel has been well documented in a lot of studies. The only reliable way of prevention of this infection is immunisation with hepatitis B vaccine.

Aim: To follow-up the primary immune response after immunisation with recombinant vaccine and its duration in adult immunocompetent subjects.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis A viral infection in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Introduction: Hepatitis A occurs throughout the world, albeit with different endemicity. The level of endemicity is determined for each country from the annual incidence rate and from the age-specific seroprevalence of anti-HAVt.

Aim: To assess the anti-HAVt seroprevalence in 180 people with no hepatitis A history.

Epidemiological, immunological and clinical characteristics of acute hepatitis C.

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to make a clinical and epidemiological and immunological characteristic of patients with acute hepatitis C infection (AHC).

Patients And Methods: The study included 178 patients with AHC; they were studied in terms of clinical course, biochemical constellations, T and B lymphocyte subpopulations, level of TNF-alpha in the blood serum, presence of autoantibodies, and the outcome of the disease in a five-year follow-up period.

Methods: anti-HCV (EIA), HCV-RNA (PCR), HCV genotyping; ALT, AST, AP, gamma-GT; ultrasonography and liver biopsy.

Immunological and microbiological investigations of patients with burn injuries.

Unlabelled: Susceptibility of patients with burn injuries to infections is associated with disturbances of the humoral and cell-mediated immunity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the dynamics of phagocytic indices and serum immunoglobulin levels in patients with burn injuries as there is a high risk of colonization and infection of the burn wound.

Patients And Methods: Between December 2004 and April 2005, we studied the dynamics of the following indices of the phagocytic system and humoral immunity of 30 burned patients: phagocytic index, phagocytic number, nitro blue tetrazolium chloride test, leukocyte number in the peripheral blood, the percentage of the neutrophilic leukocytes from the differential blood count, serum levels of immunoglobulins A, G and M and the percentage of lymphocytes.