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.

Common sugar molecule promising target for development of broad-spectrum vaccine

Developing new vaccines to protect against diseases that plague humans is fraught with numerous challenges-one being that microbes tend to vary how they look on the surface to avoid being identified and destroyed by the immune system. However, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have discovered a sugar polymer that is common on the cell surface of several pathogens.

28 May 2013

Research: Protein complex in human breast milk can help reverse antibiotic resistance

A protein complex found in human breast milk can help reverse the antibiotic resistance of bacterial species that cause dangerous pneumonia and staph infections, according to new University at Buffalo research.

3 May 2013

Specific inflammatory pattern found in patients with pneumonia and COPD

Patients with community-acquired pneumonia on a background of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have a different early inflammatory pattern than patients with CAP only, a prospective study shows.

30 Apr 2013

Specific inflammatory pattern found in patients with pneumonia and COPD

Patients with community-acquired pneumonia on a background of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have a different early inflammatory pattern than patients with CAP only, a prospective study shows.

29 Apr 2013

Pfizer reports that Prevenar 13 Phase 3 study meets all primary, secondary objectives

Pfizer Inc. presented today the results from a Phase 3 study investigating immunogenicity, tolerability and safety of Prevenar 13 (Pneumococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccine [13-valent, adsorbed]) in adults 18 to 49 years of age.

From Pfizer, Inc. 29 Apr 2013

Pneumococcal vaccine: an interview with Graham Clarke, CEO ImmBio

The pathogen that we are talking about is called streptococcus pneumoniae. That is a fairly common bacteria and if you did a nasal swab you would find that quite a lot of people have this bacterium living in their nasal passages.

16 Apr 2013

ADMA Biologics initiates enrollment in RI-002 Phase III study for PIDD

ADMA Biologics, Inc. (ADMA), a specialty immune globulin company that develops, manufactures and intends to market plasma-based biologics for the treatment and prevention of certain infectious diseases, announced that the first patient enrolled in the pivotal Phase III clinical study of its RI-002 has been dosed.

7 Mar 2013

Nursing home patients with pneumonia may need viral screening

Viral testing should be carried out among all older individuals who have been admitted to hospital for nursing home-acquired pneumonia, recommend researchers.

5 Mar 2013

Results from Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 Phase 3 study on HIV

Pfizer Inc. presented today the results from a Phase 3 study demonstrating the immunogenicity, tolerability and safety of Prevnar 13 (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine Diphtheria CRM197 Protein)in adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

5 Mar 2013

Interleukin-10 levels predict otitis media culprit

Research shows that high serum levels of interleukin-10 indicate that the likely cause of acute otitis media is infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae, as opposed to Haemophilus influenzae or Moraxella catarrhalis.

18 Feb 2013

FDA approves Pfizer’s Prevnar 13 to prevent pneumococcal disease in older children, adolescents

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for the expansion of the company's pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, Prevnar 13 (Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine [Diphtheria CRM197 Protein]), for use in older children and adolescents aged 6 years through 17 years for active immunization for the prevention of invasive disease caused by the 13 Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes contained in the vaccine.

28 Jan 2013

EC approves Pfizer’s Prevenar 13 to prevent pneumococcal disease

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the European Commission has approved expanding the use of the company's pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, Prevenar 13(pneumococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccine [13-valent, adsorbed]), to older children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years for active immunization for the prevention of invasive disease, pneumonia and acute otitis media caused by vaccine-type Streptococcus pneumoniae.

9 Jan 2013

Microbiologists discover how the spread of antibiotic resistance works in pneumococcus

Antibiotic resistance results from bacteria's uncanny ability to morph and adapt, outwitting pharmaceuticals that are supposed to kill them. But exactly how the bacteria acquire and spread that resistance inside individuals carrying them is not well-established for most bacterial organisms.

22 Nov 2012

Strep detection tests may miss sore throat-causing bacterial strains

Rapid streptococcal antigen detection tests, which are widely used to detect non-group A Lancefield beta-hemolytic streptococci in many developed countries, may be missing clinically important streptococci, say researchers.

19 Nov 2012

Abacus Diagnostica’s GenomEra C. difficile assay receives CE mark

Abacus Diagnostica Ltd announced that it has received the CE mark for the GenomEra C. difficile assay for the detection of toxin-producing Clostridium difficile directly from stool samples. C. difficile is the leading cause of infectious nosocomial diarrhea in Europe and North America.

19 Nov 2012

Flu virus suppresses body's ability to defend against bacteria

When infected with influenza, the body becomes an easy target for bacteria. The flu virus alters the host's immune system and compromises its capacity to effectively fight off bacterial infections. Now, a team of immunologists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and cooperation partners has discovered that an immune system molecule called TLR7 is partly to blame. The molecule recognizes the viral genome - and then signals scavenger cells of the immune system to ingest fewer bacteria.

15 Nov 2012

New vaccines and drug treatments urgently needed for bacterial meningitis

New vaccines and drug treatments are urgently needed for bacterial meningitis, a devastating disease which kills or maims around a fifth of people who contract it, according to medical experts writing in a new Series on bacterial meningitis, published in The Lancet.

9 Nov 2012

Artificial CSP proteins reduce S. pneumoniae competence y more than 90%

The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae - which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, bacteremia and sepsis - likes to share its antibiotic-defeating weaponry with its neighbors. Individual cells can pass resistance genes to one another through a process called horizontal gene transfer, or by "transformation," the uptake of DNA from the environment.

26 Oct 2012

Thiol peroxidase involved in S. pneumoniae defenses

The Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria defends itself from high levels of hydrogen peroxide with the help of thiol peroxidase, research shows.

22 Oct 2012

NIAID-funded study to evaluate PPSV23 and PCV13 in Phase Iib pneumococcal trial

Researchers plan to see if a higher dose of a pneumococcal vaccine will create a stronger immune response in older adults who received an earlier generation vaccine against pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases.

16 Oct 2012