Bacteria Genomes - STREPTOCOCCUS PNEUMONIAE

Streptococcus pneumoniae belongs to the alpha group of Streptococcaceae and is a major human, Gram-positive, pathogen, causing lung infections that often develop as secondary infections into other respiratory disorders and which may spread to other parts of the human body as a bacteremia, resulting in bone infections, inner ear infections (otitis media), meningitis, and endocarditis.

Currently, there are about 100 different serotypes that are defined by the unique antigenic properties of the capsular polysaccharides. Encapsulated pneumococci are able to resist phagocytosis (cell eating) with some strains being highly invasive. Untreated cases have a high mortality rate (ca. 30%); even with aggressive antimicrobial treatment a fatality rate of 5-14% for hospitalised adults with invasive disease can be expected. In addition, antibiotic resistance in S. pneumoniae has reached dramatic levels, with up to 80% of strains from clinical studies being resistant to penicilin, and resistance to macrolides and fluoroquinolones is on the rise.

References:

J. Bacteriol 183 (19):5709-17 (2001)
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/integr8/QuickSearch.do?action=doOrgSearch&organismName=Streptococcus+pneumoniae
http://genome.microbio.uab.edu/strep/info/info2.htm
Science 293 (5529):498-506 (2001)