Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumococcus

Bacterial meningitis is the most common cause of CNS infections. An epidemiologic review of bacterial meningitis in 1995 revealed that Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) was the most common pathogen (47%), followed by Neisseria... 

Disease that is segmental or lobar in its distribution is usually caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus). Haemophilus influenzae is a rare cause in this group, although it more often leads to exacerbations of chronic bronchitis and does cause pneumonia in patients infected with HIV. Benzyl-penicillin i.v. or amoxicillin p.o. are the treatments of choice if pneumococcal pneumonia is very likely alternatively, use erythromycin/clarithromycin in a penicillin-allergic patient. Seriously ill patients are best given benzylpenicillin (to cover the pneumococcus) plus ciprofloxacin (to cover Haemophilus and atypical pathogens). Where penicillin-resistant pneumococci are prevalent, i.v. cefotaxime is a reasonable best guess choice. 

Streptococcus, anaerobic or Peptostreptococcus Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), penicillin-susceptible (MIC <0.1 pg/mL)... 

The bacterium was Streptococcus pneumoniae, also called Pneumococcus. 

The pneumococci all belong to different types of the same species, namely, Streptococcus pneumoniae. This was earlier called Diplococcus pneumoniae, but has been renamed.5 6 7 There are some 80 different types of pneumococcus, and two systems of nomenclature, the Danish, used in Europe, and Eddy s, used in the United States.8 Tables correlating the Danish and American designations have been published.8 The Danish system, with Arabic numerals and common abbreviations, such as Phi for Type 1 and SI for its type-specific, capsular polysaccharide, will be used in this article. 

The Gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important cause of respiratory tract infections, bacteremia, and meningitis. In this strain, the cell wall anchored pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) has been demonstrated to bind lactoferrin [181]. PspA and closely related proteins in a variety of pneumococcal isolates are most likely involved in the sequestration of iron from lactoferrins, and finally contribute to the virulence of these bacteria. However, the means by which the pneumococcus acquires iron at the mucosal surface during invasive infection is not well understood at the molecular level [182],... 

Mescher and many others suspected that nuclein (nucleic acid) was associated in some way with cell inheritance, but the first direct evidence that DNA is the bearer of genetic information came in 1944 through a discovery made by Oswald T. Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty. These investigators found that DNA extracted from a virulent (disease-causing) strain of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, also known as pneumococcus, genetically transformed a nonvirulent strain of this organism into a virulent form (Fig. 8-12). 

In the pediatric age group, most pneumonias are due to viruses, especially respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza, and adenovirus. Pneumococcus is the most common bacterial cause, followed by Group A Streptococcus and S. aureus. 

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