Research Institute of Influenza, St. Petersburg, Russia
The statistical data on morbidity in influenza and acute respiratory diseases (ARD) among the population of the districts of the Leningrad region, which were partly contaminated with small doses of radionuclides after the catastrophe at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Station have been analózed. The clinical course of respiratory infections in 3,045 hospitalized children was studied. No essential changes in morbidity among adult population were observed. In the first years after the catastrophe the growth of morbidity among children living at the contaminated territories was found to be more intensive in comparison with control areas, and the aggravation of the clinical picture of respiratory infections was observed. A significant increase in the frequency of ARD, accompanied by leukopenia and complicated by ENT diseases, was noted. The relatively short duration of the observed effect (4—5 years) suggested that it was the consequence of radiation doses received during the first months after the catastrophe due to the action of short-half-life radioisotopes.
Zh. Mikrobiol. (Moscow), 2003, No. 6, P. 60—63