Recent advances in our understanding of Streptococcus pneumoniae infection

Abstract

A number of significant challenges remain with regard to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), which remains the most common bacterial cause of community-acquired pneumonia. Although this infection is documented to be extremely common in younger children and in older adults, the burden of pneumonia it causes is considerably underestimated, since the incidence statistics are derived largely from bacteremic infections, because they are easy to document, and yet the greater burden of pneumococcal pneumonias is non-invasive. It has been estimated that for every bacteremic pneumonia that is documented, three non-bacteremic infections occur. Management of these infections is potentially complicated by the increasing resistance of the isolates to the commonly used antibiotics. Furthermore, it is well recognized that despite advances in medical care, the mortality of bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia has remained largely unchanged over the past 50 years and averages approximately 12%. Much recent research interest in the field of pneumococcal infections has focused on important virulence factors of the organism, on improved diagnostic and prognostication tools, on defining risk factors for death, on optimal treatment strategies involving both antibiotics and adjunctive therapies, and on disease prevention. It is hoped that through these endeavors the outlook of pneumococcal infections will be improved.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Streptococcus pneumoniae caused different microbial structure and correlation network in lung microbiota

“…Then we will test if this could improve discerning between bacterial infection and carriage, with the aid of these correlation networks. Collectively, these findings will be applied in making more precise diagnosis and treatment on CAP, to lower the mortality and avoid overuse of antibiotic, including first-line macrolides (16). …”

A Structural Snapshot of Type II Pilus Formation in Streptococcus pneumoniae

“…Native data were collected at beamline ID14Ϫ4 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) 2 in Grenoble, France. Crystals belonged to space group P4 3 , with unit cell dimensions a ϭ b ϭ 54.21 Å and c ϭ 361.41 Å. Two molecules were present in the asymmetric unit, leading to V M ϭ 3.59 3 /Da, corresponding to an approximate solvent content of 65.72%.…”

“…Crystals belonged to space group P4 3 , with unit cell dimensions a ϭ b ϭ 54.21 Å and c ϭ 361.41 Å. Two molecules were present in the asymmetric unit, leading to V M ϭ 3.59 3 /Da, corresponding to an approximate solvent content of 65.72%. Data were indexed and integrated with software Mosflm (37) and merged and scaled with Scala (38).…”

“…Despite the development of multi-valent polysaccharide-based vaccines, pneumococcal infection still continues to be a worldwide problem, affecting mostly the elderly and the very young, notably in developing countries (2,3). One of the key steps for infection initiation is adherence of pneumococci to eukaryotic surfaces, which is mostly achieved through the interaction between bacterial surface-exposed proteins and host carbohydrates in a lectin-like fashion or through the direct action of adhesins that recognize the extracellular matrix (4 -6).…”

Red Blood Cell Susceptibility to Pneumolysin

“…PLY is a key virulence factor of the bacterial pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (30,31) and plays a role in a range of human diseases, such as pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis (32). Disease is especially common in children, the elderly, and in immunocompromised and diabetic individuals (30).…”