Object of the study: atopic dermatitis (AD) in young children. Purpose of the research: improved diagnosis and treatment of AD in young children on the basis of the study of relationships between the intestinal microbiocenosis state, the intensity of destructive processes in the mucous layer of the intestinal mucosa, the local immunity and the formation of Th2 type of the immune response. Methods of the research: clinical, laboratory (the study of faeces for dysbacteriosis, detection of SigA level in coprofiltrates, total glycosaminoglycanes [GAG] and free fucose [FF] in coprofiltrates and blood serum, as well as interleukin-4, tumour necrosis factor alpha, interferon gamma in blood serum), statistical ones. Theoretical and practical results: on the basis of the conducted study with the use of modern instrumental and laboratory methods, participation of intestinal microbiocenosis disturbances (IMD) in the pathogenesis of AD in children during the first and second years of their life was proved. Proceeding from the obtained clinical-laboratory data, the necessity of an early diagnosis of IMD and their early correction was grounded. A method was devised to treat AD in young children by correcting IMD with a staphylococcal bacteriophage, which makes it possible to effectively eliminate opportunistic flora (OF) in the large intestine and improves the quality of the treatment by increasing the remission period and decreasing the severity of complications, and also makes the course of AD easier. A method was worked out for assessing the efficacy of the conducted correction of IMD by detecting GAG levels in coprofiltrates before and after the correction; this method makes it possible to reduce material expenses and time for receiving results of control studies. Novelty: it was revealed that OF content in children, ill with AD, during the first year of their life, was various and unstable; with the child’s age the number of OF representatives gradually decreased, the character of IMD was stabilized. It was found out that in children, during the first year of their life, the allergic skin inflammation was of the exudative character, while in the children during the second year of their life it gradually became of the proliferative character, and in the children during the third year of their life it was proliferative. It was proved that, in the presence of OF in the intestinal microbiocenosis content, skin symptoms of AD in the children during the first and second years of their life became more expressed. It was revealed that IMD caused destructive processes in the mucous layer of the intestinal mucosa, which took part in AD pathogenesis in the children during the first year of their life. It was proved that OF of the large intestine produced its effect on the formation of the immune response after Th2 type in the children, ill with AD, during the first and second years of their life. A method for the correction of IMD in young children, ill with AD, using a staphylococcal bacteriophage, was devised. Degree of introduction: the main results of the conducted studies were introduced into the work of the Children’s Allergological Centre of Regional Children’s Hospital No. 1 of the City of Kharkiv, the Children’s Department of Multi-Type Hospital No. 17 of the City of Kharkiv, Kharkiv City Children’s Polyclinic No. 14, paediatric departments of the Pervomaysk Central District Hospital (CDH), Pechenigy CDH, Barvenkovo CDH, Krasnograd CDH, Izium CDH, Sakhnovshchina CDH, Poltava City Children’s Hospital, Zaporizh’ya City Multi-Type Children’s Hospital No. 5, Odesa Regional Children’s Hospital. Sphere of application: medicine, paediatrics.
