[Role of ultrasmall forms of Mycobacteria in the pathomorphology of tuberculosis].

Microbiological and histological studies made in patients with active tuberculosis revealed that 65.5% of cases had revertants from ultraminor forms (UMF) of Mycobacteria tuberculosis (MBT), which are typically bacterial in shape and referred to as representatives of the genus Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Cultivation of the diagnostic material containing MBT UMF the enriched liquid nutrient medium could detect rod-shaped bacterial forms of MBT in 18% of the patients with tuberculosis. Inoculation of the MBT UMF-containing material isolated from patients with tuberculosis to guinea-pigs revealed productive sarcoid-like changes in the organs of the experimental animals in 30.6% of cases. A postmortem study of the organs of experimental animals inoculated the material containing "visible, but not growing" mycobacteria detected paraspecific tissue reactions and infiltration of lung tissue by multiple cells of the macrophageal series.