Streptococcus pneumoniae News and Research

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Streptococcus pneumoniae, or Pneumococcus, is a very common bacterial infection in both industrialized and developing countries. In particular, young children and the elderly represent high-risk populations of developing pneumococcal infections. According to the WHO, the bacterium kills up to one million children under the age of five years each year worldwide. It accounts for many Bacterial Meningitis cases in adults and it is the most common cause of Bacteraemia, Pneumonia, Meningitis and Otitis media in young children.

Johns Hopkins researchers reveal that e-cigarettes weaken immune system

In a study with mice, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers have found that e-cigarettes compromise the immune system in the lungs and generate some of the same potentially dangerous chemicals found in traditional nicotine cigarettes.

5 Feb 2015

Tufts University researchers report that extra vitamin E can protect against pneumonia

Extra vitamin E protected older mice from a bacterial infection that commonly causes pneumonia. Microbiologists and nutrition researchers from Tufts University report that the extra vitamin E helped regulate the mice's immune system.

17 Dec 2014

Researchers explore new ways to treat, prevent Streptococcus pneumoniae

Scientists from Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology have used the power of new genomic technology to discover that microbes that commonly infect the eye have special, previously unknown properties. These properties are predicted to allow the bacterium -- Streptococcus pneumoniae -- to specifically stick to the surface of the eye, grow, and cause damage and inflammation.

13 Nov 2014

Females' natural resistance to bacterial pneumonia is linked to NOS3 enzyme

Researchers have linked increased resistance to bacterial pneumonia in female mice to an enzyme activated by the female sex hormone estrogen.

17 Oct 2014

FDA grants QIDP and Fast Track designation to Nabriva's lefamulin for treatment of CABP, ABSSSI

Nabriva Therapeutics AG, a biotechnology company focused on developing pleuromutilins, a new class of antibiotics for the treatment of serious infections caused by resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens, announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration has granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) as well as Fast Track status designation to Nabriva's lead product lefamulin, for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI).

8 Oct 2014

Three institutions collaborate to develop vaccine to treat pneumonia

The long-observed association between pneumonia and heart failure now has more physical evidence, thanks to research in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

26 Sep 2014

Influenza can cause ear and throat infections

Influenza infection can enhance the ability of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae to cause ear and throat infections, according to research published ahead of print in the journal Infection and Immunity.

23 Sep 2014

Pneumonia in COPD patients has distinct clinical features

The aetiology and clinical features of community-acquired pneumonia are different in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than in those without the lung condition, Spanish research demonstrates.

22 Sep 2014

S. pneumoniae drug susceptibility tracked in Japan

A 12-year survey of the antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates in Miyagi Prefecture in Japan has identified important changes, including improved susceptibility to β-lactam antibiotics.

17 Sep 2014

Chinese study of serogroup 6 S. pneumoniae finds no antibiotic-resistant clones

A survey of serogroup 6 Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from children in China has identified no antibiotic-resistant clones, leading the authors to speculate that the isolates may be under antibiotic selective pressure.

8 Sep 2014

Middle ear infections can be triggered by viral infection in nose, say researchers

Middle ear infections, which affect more than 85 percent of children under the age of 3, can be triggered by a viral infection in the nose rather than solely by a bacterial infection, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

6 Sep 2014

‘Concerning’ rise in pneumococcus risk factors

Researchers report that the incidence of Streptococcus pneumoniae infection has fallen significantly in the USA in the past decade but describe a “concerning trend” whereby the baseline health status of those with serious pneumococcal disease has worsened.

1 Sep 2014

Aging Japanese population driving high CAP burden

There is a high incidence of community-acquired pneumonia in Kochi City in western Japan, which is primarily explained by the large proportion of elderly inhabitants, researchers report.

18 Aug 2014

Prevalence of bacterial meningitis drops in the United States

Advances in the prevention and treatment of an often fatal condition called bacterial meningitis appear to be paying dividends in the United States, report infectious disease experts at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

13 Aug 2014

Mucosal lymphoid cells key to S. pneumoniae defence

Type 3 innate lymphoid cells in the lung mucosa are activated early in the course of infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae and are a major source of interleukin-22 production, research reveals.

11 Aug 2014

Pneumococcal pneumonia mortality falling

Between 2000 and 2013 there has been an increase in the early prescription of antibiotics and use of combination therapy in patients with pneumococcal pneumonia, researchers report.

28 Jul 2014

Researchers release evidence substantiating unexpected dual role of immune system

University of Leicester researchers have released evidence substantiating an unexpected dual role of an important component of the immune system.

17 Jul 2014

Bacterial respiratory tract colonization before catching influenza may protect against severe disease

Many studies have shown that more severe illness and even death are likely to result if you develop a secondary respiratory infection after developing influenza. Now, however, a team of researchers based at The Wistar Institute has determined that if you reverse the order of infection, the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae (often called pneumococcus) may actually protect against a bad case of the flu.

11 Jul 2014

Scientists uncover mechanisms that can protect against lethal bacteria

An important development in understanding how the bacterium that causes pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia remains harmlessly in the nose and throat has been discovered at the University of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health.

8 Jul 2014

Mechanisms of recurrent bacteria AOM in children under scrutiny

The immune response in young children with bacterial acute otitis media differs between individuals who are prone to such infection and those who are not, US researchers have shown.

16 Jun 2014