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A study was made of the production of active forms of oxygen (AFO) by liminol-dependent spontaneous chemiluminescence (LSC) of isolated polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PNL) and whole blood in 39 patients with acute pneumonias in different disease periods. The majority of the patients manifested activation of oxygen metabolism of PNL, with the intensity of LSC of whole blood appreciably exceeding LSC of neutrophils isolated from the given blood sample. If the production of AFO is insufficient, the acute period of pneumonia is characterized in most cases by the complicated disease course. Studies into LSC of whole blood is more informative for predicting complications within these times. The lack of the increment of the whole blood LSC intensity on the second week of the disease as compared to the first week as well as a rapid decrease of the initially high level of LSC to the level not differing from the donor's parameters is prognostically unfavourable as regards complete recovery. Inadequately high and long (during 3 weeks) generation of AFO detectable by both methods was associated with the lingering course of pneumonia. The monitoring of LSC of PNL and whole blood allows predicting complications of acute pneumonia together with administering corrective therapy with the aid of immunomodulators and antioxidants.