• Question: What is Streptococcus pneumoniae?

    Asked by charliedraco to Daz, Cat, Holly, Johnson, Pamela on 19 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by ellieheron, hifive5, robertsd09, tommolloy95, 115rules, myatt96.
    • Photo: Cat O'Connor

      Cat O'Connor answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi guys,

      Strep pneumoniae is a nasty bacteria that can cause infections in your lungs as the name suggests but can also cause all sorts of other horrible infections such as meningitis, ear infections, sinus infections and even infections in your brain! It not only infections humans but animals too

      Hope this helps,

      Cat

    • Photo: Darren Braddick

      Darren Braddick answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Hi Charliedraco, hifive5, robertsd09 and ellieheron!

      Streptococcus pneumoniae, or S. pneumoniae is a small bacteria which is an important human pathogen – that is, a bacteria which can infect and harm humans. It is the primary cause of bacterial pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis. It causes a variety of other diseases too, and most of them are pretty awful. The bacteria has an easier time infecting people who very young or old, and also those who aren’t very strong (for example people who’ve had surgery, or suffer from AIDS).

      It’s important because it affects millions of people and can be difficult to treat. Normally, penicillin drugs (of which there are a HUGE number of different versions) are quite effective. However, due to changes in some of its proteins, penicillins no longer work well. This is the result of antibiotic resistance, and unfortunately can increase the chance of significant morbidity or mortality in people who are infected.

      I expect I could add more to this answer – so please comment if you have other questions in this field! I study this bacteria (and others too!) because it is medically important, and we really need new antibiotics to treat this – and many other – new infective bacterial species.

      Daz

    • Photo: Pamela Lithgow

      Pamela Lithgow answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      Hi all,
      It looks like there are some good answers here. I think I will leave you in the capable hands of Darren as this is his speciality! We all try and give the best answers but if there is someone that knows the most about something they should really have centre stage!
      Pam 🙂

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