Pneumococcal Disease - Streptococcus pneumoniae by Meghan Solano

menmerci — 2019-04-25 21:14:26 UTC

Visit the CDC's website for more information:

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What is Pneumococcal disease?

menmerci — 2019-04-25 21:20:06 UTC

It is a diseased caused by the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae. This bacteria can cause several infections of the body including those of the ear and meninges. S. pneumoniae infection can become invasive, which means that it can enter the bloodstream and spread thorough the body, often causing meningitis. This calls for immediate treatment and can be lethal. Young children and the elderly are at a higher risk for contracting this disease than any other age group. (CDC).

What is the causative agent?

menmerci — 2019-04-25 21:20:29 UTC

Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacterial microbe, causes this disease among several others (CDC).

Symptoms

menmerci — 2019-04-25 21:20:42 UTC

There are three types of pneumococcal disease. Pneumococcal pneumonia, pneumococcal meningitis, and pneumococcal bacteriemia.

Symptoms of pneumonia (lung infection) include fever, chills, difficulty breathing, and chest pains.
Symptoms of meningitis (infection of brain/spinal cord tissues aka meninges) include stiff neck, fever, headache, confusion, and more.
Bacterium symptoms include fever, chills, and a lack of alertness. This can lead to sepsis (whole body infection), which can cause death.

Young children and the elderly are especially concerning when they contract a streptococcus pneumoniae infection because their immune systems are less competent at those stages of life (CDC).

Can infection with S. pneumoniae be prevented? If so, how?

menmerci — 2019-04-25 21:21:05 UTC

Good news! There are vaccines to help protect individuals from pneumococcal disease. The "pneumococcal conjugate vaccine" is PVC-13 or Prevnar-13. This protects against various types of bacterial infection. The CDC recommends the vaccines for children of various ages as well as for the elderly. Middle-aged adults are encouraged to get the vaccine if they have "certain medical conditions."
Infection occurs after exposure to someone with the infection. There are "more than 90 strains" of this bacteria that can cause infection, so the CDC still recommends getting the vaccine even if you've had the disease before. The strain you get the second time around may not be the same one that you got before, so it is best to err on the side of caution and get the conjugate vaccine when advised (CDC).

Recent publication appearance:

menmerci — 2019-04-25 21:21:48 UTC

This publication describes S. pneumonia as an "... opportunistic pathogen that colonizes the mucosal surfaces of the human upper respiratory tract (URT). Up to 27–65% of children and <10% of adults are carriers of S. pneumoniae..." This is interesting because it means that this bacteria is capable of living a human without causing the disease, and will likely cause disease when said human is immunocompromised. This is what an opportunistic pathogen is, by definition.

This article also describes how prevention is a growing concern because the World Health Organization declared S. pneumoniae as "one of 12 priority pathogens" (Weiser et al).

Included in the article are excellent figures to demonstrate the spread and infection of pneumococcal disease.

Weiser, Jeffrey N., et al. “Streptococcus Pneumoniae: Transmission, Colonization and Invasion.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 29 Mar. 2018, www.nature.com/articles/s41579-018-0001-8.

Treatment for pneumoccoal disease

menmerci — 2019-04-25 21:21:55 UTC

According to the CDC, streptococcus pneumoniae is frequently resistant to several antibiotics. Treatment depends how severe the infection is, and relies on antibiotic resistant testing for the care-providers to know exactly which antibiotic to prescribe. Antibiotics, when properly prescribed, are effective treatments. Opting to get the vaccine to prevent infection in the first place results in fewer antibiotic resistant cases of infection (CDC).

Informational video -

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Sources Cited

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Images: Google Images "Streptococcus pneumoniae"

Video: Youtube Search "Streptococcus pneumoniae"

Weiser, Jeffrey N., et al. “Streptococcus Pneumoniae: Transmission, Colonization and Invasion.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 29 Mar. 2018, www.nature.com/articles/s41579-018-0001-8.

Other interesting sources:

menmerci — 2019-04-26 17:04:08 UTC

For information regarding reports of diseases, vaccine impacts on number of cases, etc.: https://www.cdc.gov/pneumococcal/surveillance.html

For information regarding global impact:
https://www.cdc.gov/pneumococcal/global.html

For information for those interested in the immunological aspect, see this publication:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24336054

menmerci — 2019-04-26 17:30:35 UTC