Viability — a New Biological Property of a Tuberculosis Agent in Conditions of the Tobacco Smoke Product Effect
Aim of investigation is a study of the tobacco smoke product possible influence on the tuberculosis agent viability.
Materials and Methods. Two strains of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) — H37Ra, 4688 — and a tobacco smoke condensate (international equivalent of smoking) were used in experimental part of work. The MBT were sown in the Levenstein-Iensen medium with five dilutions of a condensate (from 10–3 to 10 mg/cm3). The low, average and high values of viability were detected (a growth of less than 20 MBT colonies for more than 30 days, from 20 to 100 colonies or more than 100 colonies for less than 30 days, respectively).
140 strains of MBT released from 102 smokers and 38 nonsmoking patients with the infiltrative tuberculosis of lungs were a material for clinical generalizations.
Results. An increase of the culture mass and growth rate, grown in the media with a tobacco smoke condensate dilution of 0.1—0.01 mg/cm2, is established, which corresponded to the ″MBT high viability″ criterion. The clinicoexperimental parallels are revealed: a high degree of viability is marked in 52.8% of strains, released from multismoking patients (compared to 17.5% in the nonsmoking patients from a comparison group).
Conclusion. A growth of the MBT viability under an influence of the tobacco smoke products is one more explanation of the lung tuberculosis unfavorable flow in the smokers, especially malicious ones.
