INFLUENCE OF INHALATION BACTERIOPHAGE THERAPY ON THE IMMUNE SYSTEM IN CHILDREN DURING THE TREATMENT OF ACUTE TONSILLITIS

Abstract

Relevance. Timely diagnosis and treatment of acute tonsillitis (AT) in children remains one of the current areas of outpatient care. At the same time, in recent years, the introduction of treatment methods using bacteriophages has become a relevant area in pediatrics. Objective. Analysis of the effect of inhalation bacteriophage therapy (IBT) on the local immune system of children with AT. Materials and methods. The study was conducted on the basis of a randomized controlled method. 212 children aged 4 to 15 years with AT and 110 practically healthy children (control group) were examined. The first group included 107 sick children with AT who received standard general treatment. The second group consisted of 105 children who received inhalation bacteriophage therapy (IBT) together with standard treatment. The immunological study included the determination of sIgA and TNF-α. IBT was performed using pyobacteriophage PLC (RF). Results. In children with AT, a decrease in the sIgA level was observed on the first day of the disease (in younger children - up to 40.9%, in adolescents - up to 41.9%). With IBT, by the sixth day of treatment in both age groups, an increase in sIgA to 96.9% was noted, in patients who did not receive IBT, this figure was on average 80.7%. Similar changes were observed when studying the TNF-α level. The TNF-α level, which was high in the acute phase of the disease, gradually decreased during treatment. On the third day of treatment in children receiving IBT, TNF-α decreased on average to 11.0%, and on the sixth day of treatment to 17%, from the initial level. Conclusion. The use of inhalation bacteriophage therapy in the complex treatment of children with acute tonsillitis against the background of an improvement in local immunity indicators by 16.3% contributed to a positive shift in the clinical signs of the disease by 1.39 times (p≤0.05).