[Characteristics of the mechanisms of the immune response in typhoid fever and the bacterial carrier state].

During the acute period of typhoid fever, as well as in the early and, partially, late convalescence periods, a considerable increase in the level of T-lymphocytes and their helper activity and, in some cases, in the number of B- and D-cells and the populations of neutrophils with receptors for C3 and Fc IgG was observed. In chronic carriers immune shifts of a different character have been recorded: an increase in suppressor activity and a decrease in the number of the above-mentioned neutrophils. These data prompt the use of immunological criteria for the prediction of chronic carrier state in typhoid fever.