[Immune structure of the population in some regions of the USSR with respect to Legionella pneumophila].

For the first time in the USSR the structure of the immunity of different population groups to L. pneumophila was studied. Antibodies to L. pneumophila were detected in the passive hemagglutination test with the use of erythrocyte diagnosticum prepared at the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (Moscow). The survey covered the total number of 2,902 persons in differ nt regions of the USSR, among them 2,430 adults and 472 children. Among the healthy adult population antibodies to L. pneumophila were detected, on the average, in 5.9% of persons. The highest number of persons with antibodies in diagnostic titers was detected among the population of the Baltic Republics (15.9%) and Kazakhstan (10.2%). The survey revealed an essential difference in the number of children aged 3-7 years, found to have antibodies to L. pneumophila, in the Brest region of the Byelorussian SSR (31.4%) and in the Turkmen SSR (1.3%). The high risk groups exposed to L. pneumophila infection were found to include narcological patients with the changed reactivity of the body and healthy adults professionally employed in earth-moving works.