The formation of a CS aerosol during the combustion of a pyrotechnic mixture in gas grenades is accompanied by the formation of numerous thermolytic degradation products. Many of these products (including CS itself) are highly reactive substances, as a result of which the composition of the aerosol differs significantly from the set of products that can be subsequently detected in environmental objects.

The aim of the work is to detect and identify CS derivatives in soil samples and in the material of gas grenades delivered from the zone of a special military operation to assess their relative content and select promising markers of the fact of CS use.

Research methods. Detection and structural identification of CS degradation products were performed using gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (lowand high-resolution).

The results of the study. More than 30 compounds have been found that are products of oxidation, reduction, thermochemical degradation and dimerization of CS and its derivatives. The method of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, which was not previously used for such work, presumably identified five compounds, information about which in relation to gas grenades is not available in the sources available to us.

Conclusion. In the case of object analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the most convenient marker of CS exposure is 2-chlorobenzylmalonyl nitrile, while the content of CS itself may be insignificant. For the variant of analysis by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, it is preferable to search for products of cyclization of CS of quinoline origin (positive ionization mode), and for the negative mode products of dimerization and reduction of CS.

A previously unknown virus from the orthopoxvirus family (OPXV) caused a series of smallpox-like diseases among the inhabitants of Alaska. A patient with immunodeficiency died from a generalized infection similar to smallpox. The virus was named Alaska smallpox virus (AKPV).

The aim of the study was to summarize the available information on the nature and danger to humans of AKPV and its epidemic significance in the context of other activated orthopoxviruses.

Materials and methods. English-language sources available through the PubMed and Google Scholar databases were used. The information was analyzed from the specific to the general. The biological and other properties of AKPV were compared with those of known OPXV.

Discussion. AAKPV is related to New World OPXV, but is closely related to Old World OPXV. The clinical picture of the disease caused by AKPV and other OPXVs has a number of common symptoms, collectively called orthopoxvirus syndrome. It is characterized by an initial prodromal period in the form of fever, malaise, headache, myalgia and, less commonly, nausea and vomiting. After an incubation period of 10 to 14 days, macules, papules, vesicles, pustules, ulcers, dry crusts and depigmented scars develop over the course of weeks against the background of lymphadenopathy. In immunocompromised patients, OPXVs can cause a fatal infection resembling smallpox. If this syndrome is detected in a patient, OPXV infection should be assumed and the patient should be managed according to the guidelines of MP 3.1.0291-22. There is also a risk of using any detected OPXV as a source of genes for gain-of-function modification of other pathogens or for simulating.

Conclusion. The penetration of AKPV into human populations is part of the process of activation of natural foci of OPXV. The phylogenetic position of AKPV suggests that it may have natural reservoirs not only in Alaska, but also in the boreal forest zone of Russia from Kamchatka to Karelia. Artificial global spread of monkeypox of the lowinfectivity WA clade shows that social engineering techniques combined with global propaganda can simulate OPXV pandemics even with species thought incapable of such spread.

 In the last 10 years, scientists' interest in the horsepox pathogen has increased sharply due to the obtaining of its chimeric copy and the discussion of whether it was used to create early smallpox vaccines and the dangers of technologies that allow the restoration of extinct pathogens of dangerous infections.

The aim of the work is to summarize the materials on modern studies of the horsepox virus.

The source base of the study is English-language scientific literature available via the Internet.

The research method is an analysis of scientific sources on horsepox from the general to the specific. We considered the area of distribution of the virus, its epidemiological danger, phylogenetic relationship, data on the sequencing of the horsepox virus genome and the likelihood of its use in the creation of the first vaccines, as well as obtaining its chimeric copy, on the basis of which a new smallpox vaccine was created – TNX-801.

Results and discussion. The horsepox virus belongs to the poxvirus family, the orthopoxvirus genus. Classical horsepox has previously been reported only in Europe (France), Mongolia, and Kenya. The complete nucleotide sequence of the horsepox virus genome MNR-76 isolated in Mongolia has been determined. In addition to genes common to all orthopoxviruses, it includes intact genes specific only to this virus, the homologues of which are fragmented in the genome of other orthopoxviruses. Phylogenetic analysis of a number of orthopoxviruses was performed and a phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the conserved central region of the genome and some of the more variable terminal regions. The data obtained indicate that horsepox virus is most closely related to vaccinia virus and rabbitpox virus strains. Although horsepox is currently considered extinct, its pathogen may persist in unknown reservoirs. The data on the sequencing of the horsepox virus genome, strain MNR-76, suggest that horsepox virus could have served as the basis for the first smallpox vaccines. A chimeric copy of the horsepox virus was obtained using synthetic biology, which was used to create a new smallpox vaccine, TNX-801. On its basis, a recombinant vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 was constructed. The restoration of "extinct viruses" using synthetic biology methods has led to intense debates about the benefits and risks of such research.

Conclusion. It cannot be ruled out that the use of modern genetic engineering technologies may lead not only to the development of effective vaccines, but also to the production of new orthopoxviruses pathogenic for humans and animals, or to the reintroduction of smallpox, which is especially dangerous in the context of the virtual absence of smallpox immunity in the population and international control over experiments in the synthetic biology of dangerous pathogens.

Accumulating information about the growing number of microorganisms that are resistant to the antibiotics used, on the one hand, and the emergence of information about the presence of laboratories in which closed work is carried out with microbial pathogens, the negative properties of which can be artificially enhanced.

The aim of the work to analyze current trends in the development of antimicrobial drugs combining the use of wellknown and widely used antibiotics, as well as substances with antimicrobial properties, including metal nanoparticles, antimicrobial peptides, with various enzymes that allow to preserve and enhance the antimicrobial effect against the cells of various microorganisms

The source base of the research is mainly English–language scientific literature available via the global Internet network, as well as the authors’ own published experimental studies.

The research method is analytical.

Results. The work considers enzymes that, unlike classical antimicrobial agents, which more often enter into reactions inhibiting key biochemical reactions, are catalysts for processes aimed at oxidation and hydrolysis of molecules that are metabolically and structurally important for microorganisms.

Conclusion. The enzyme repeatedly enters into reactions that significantly reduce the concentrations of substances important for the vital activity of microbial cells, which leads to their weakening and more effective action of antimicrobial agents. Most often, in this case, the enzymes themselves act as carriers for molecules with antimicrobial action, which avoids their non-specific interaction with other, primarily proteins, thus removing some, for example, antibiotics, from the active effect on pathogen cells. It has been demonstrated that the enzymatic enhancement of the bactericidal action of antimicrobial agents can be in relation to different cells, including the complex biosystems (biofilms) formed by them, both by several times and by several orders of magnitude. Such antimicrobial agents combined with enzymes may be of interest for carrying out sanitary treatments of various surfaces, containers, premises, including biological laboratories, for the introduction of protective and dressing materials.

One of the promising areas for improving laboratory diagnostics is the active introduction of next-generation sequencing (NGS), which retains the key advantages of molecular tests and allows the detection of a wide range of diverse microorganisms. Despite the significant advantages of NGS in the laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases, there are also a number of objective obstacles to its widespread use.

The purpose of the work is to consider existing hardware and software solutions for whole-genome sequencing, as well as the prospects and problems of their implementation in the practice of the RCB protection troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for the identification of pathogens of various etiologies.

The source base of the research includes an analysis of data published in domestic and English-language scientific publications, as well as posted on the Internet.

The research method is analytical.

Results. Materials are presented that summarize data on three generations of sequencing technologies, their advantages and disadvantages. It is shown that with the development of NGS technologies, many technical problems arise that need to be deeply analyzed and solved. Despite its great potential, NGS has not yet been widely adopted in clinical microbiology laboratories, partly due to the lack of standardized workflows.

Conclusions. For the successful use of NGS by units of the RCB protection troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to solve the main problem, which is the development of domestic hardware, appropriate bioinformatics tools and databases certified in accordance with the established procedure for functioning offiine without connecting to the Internet.

The increasing role of high-precision weapons (HPW) in the weapons system of foreign countries means the need to improve the means and methods of complex camouflage of troops, an integral part of which is the use of aerosols. The article is a continuation of research on the assessment of the effectiveness of camouflage of objects with aerosols based on the calculation of the proportion of space hidden (screened) by aerosol particles for the free passage of visible light carrying information about the object and the surrounding background. According to the authors, when recognizing an object through a moving aerosol structure, in addition to the proportion of free space, its structure also influences camouflage, namely the size of the cells from minimum to maximum, which together make up this space.

The purpose of the work is to assess a new camouflage factor, that is, the nature of the distribution in an aerosol cloud of the structure of free space depending on the density of the aerosol (integral concentration, g/m2) along the line of sight (observation) and the size of its particles, μm.

Research method. Theoretical modeling of the passage of light through an aerosol cloud using a PC.

Discussion. The calculations performed on a PC show the existence of a probabilistic distribution of free space cells by their size (size and area), which make up the total value of free space, previously estimated by us as a whole. The unevenness of the cell size is due to turbulence of the surface air layer with aerosol distributed in it. The calculations showed that the cell size is extremely small: no more than 100 μm.

Conclusion. The small size of the cells and their dynamic distribution in space during the propagation of the aerosol cloud can be considered in mathematical terms as an additional term of the probability of camouflage, due to the non-perception (non-distinction) of the camouflaged objects. The term is new and, perhaps, requires clarification, both theoretically and during experiments in an aerosol chamber. But its meaning lies in the existence of a minimum limiting solid angle of difference (perception) by the human eye of pixels of visible information through the moving structure of an aerosol cloud at a certain observation range.

To date, there is practically no available information about the leading role of Soviet military scientists in the discovery of extra-chromosomal heredity factors (plasmids) of Yersinia pestis the causative agent of the plague.

The purpose of this work is to summarize all of the available materials about the plague pathogen plasmids discovery.

The source base, method is the analysis of foreign and domestic unclassified materials on topic under consideration, including archival documents.

Results and discussion. In 1972, US scientists, based on their experimental data, concluded that the plague pathogen (Yersinia pestis) had no extra-chromosomal DNA. Later, in 1975-1977, military scientists of the Research Institute of Microbiology of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR (RIM, now it is called Branch Office of the Federal State Budgetary Establishment “48 Central Scientific Research Institute” of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (Kirov)) have proven the existence of Yersinia pestis plasmids using sedimentation equilibrium ultracentrifugation, electron microscopy and agarose gel electrophoresis. It was established that the microbe has three own plasmids with molecular weights of 6.4, 47 and 67 megadalton (MDa). Soviet military microbiologists have revealed that the first plasmid encodes the synthesis of pesticine I, fibrinolysin and plasmocoagulase; the second one determines the calcium dependence and the synthesis of antigens V and W; and the third one determines the synthesis of antigen FI and mouse toxin. In 1978, T.G. Abdullin, E.V. Smirnov, I.V. Darmov (from RIM), as well as Academician I.V. Domaradsky (VNIIsintezbelok laboratory, Moscow) applied for a patent for the scientific discovery. The official USSR diploma for scientific discovery No. 001 under the code “Plasma” was issued in 1983, with the priority date of December 27th, 1977. The first unclassified publications confirming this discovery appeared only a few years later, in 1980–1981. Based on this discovery, new vaccine strains and protective antigens producer strains were designed, which made it possible to develop effective means of specific plague prevention.

Conclusion. Available data and archival materials confirm the priority of Soviet military scientists in the plague pathogen plasmids discovery.