Medical aspects of bacterial stigmergy

Abstract

Th e article highlights current data on the medical aspects of bacterial stigmergy problem, which is considered a phenomenon of collective self-organization of bacterial communities in response to the infl uence of adverse environmental factors. Th e transformation of bacteria into various adaptive forms is a phenomenon that is not only repeated in in vitro experiments but also is quite oft en a form of bacterial existence in the human body. A number of forms of bacterial stigmergy are discussed, such as biofi lm formation, uncultivated forms of bacteria, microorganisms with a defect in cell wall synthesis, and a motile colony morphotype that can exist in the patient’s organism at diff erent stages of the infectious process. Analysis of clinical data shows that under most diseases, pathogens can acquire certain forms of resistance, while in some cases, for example, in typhoid fever, the origin of multifactorial protection is observed with the formation of uncultivated and L-forms, as well as a “motile” morphotype of colonies. Th e role of adaptively modifi ed forms in the development of chronic and recurrent infections is considered.