Antibiotic-resistant pneumococci are difficult to eradicate from middle ear fluid (MEF) and the nasopharynx (NP). Bacteriologic eradication from the NP and MEF during acute otitis media (AOM) by 3 common antibiotic drugs was prospectively evaluated. In 19 (16%) of 119 MEF culture-positive patients, an organism susceptible to the treatment drug (Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, ...

1. The organisms described by Schottmüller under the name Streptococcus mucosus represent a well defined group with characteristics which indicate a closer relationship to the pneumococci than to the streptococci. 2. The members of this group are specifically agglutinable when treated according to the method of Porges. They do not agglutinate when subjected to the usual agglutination methods. 3...

Heat labile opsonins (HLO) in normal rat serum to both encapsulated and unencapsulated pneumococci (a) have the same heat lability as complement (C); (b) are active at 37 degrees C but not at 0 degrees C; (c) are inactivated proportionately to hemolytic C by the addition of immune aggregates to the serum; (d) are adsorbed from serum nonspecifically by bacteria at 37 degrees C but not at 0 degre...

In response to increasing frequencies of penicillin-nonsusceptible pneumococci (PNSP), for which the MIC of penicillin was >0.12 mg/L, in Skåne County, southern Sweden, national recommendations were initiated in 1995 to limit the spread of pneumococci with high MICs (> or =0.5 mg/L) of penicillin (PRP), especially among children of preschool age. Traditional communicable disease control measure...

Resistance to erythromycin in Streptococcus pneumoniae was first detected in 1967 in the United States and subsequently worldwide (11, 20). The corresponding mechanism was rapidly identified as ribosomal methylation, which had been primarily reported as being responsible for erythromycin resistance in staphylococci (44). Further spread of resistance was then noted in a few countries, such as Fr...

Bacterial pathogens produce complex carbohydrate capsules to protect against bactericidal immune molecules. Paradoxically, the pneumococcal capsule sensitizes the bacterium to antimicrobial peptides found on epithelial surfaces. Here we show that upon interaction with antimicrobial peptides, encapsulated pneumococci survive by removing capsule from the cell surface within minutes in a process d...

An improved method is described for preparing the enzyme which hydrolyzes the polysaccharide acid contained in vitreous humor, umbilical cord, synovial fluid, and the mucoid phase of group A hemolytic streptococci. Preparations have been obtained from pneumococci, group A hemolytic streptococci, Clostridium welchii, and from splenic tissue, which display the same specific activity. Evidence is ...

The loss of the specialized function of S production by Type II pneumococcus was accompanied by a loss of the antigenic properties involved in both active and passive protection of mice. Absorption of Type II serum with S-producing pneumococci removed all the protective antibodies, as well as the type-specific agglutinins and S precipitins. The same absorption treatment of the serum by non-S-pr...

I n this issue of the European Respiratory Review, LUDWIG et al. [1] present an article highlighting the continuous burden caused by invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). Demographic changes due to the growing elderly population will further increase this problem. Bacterial infections of the upper and lower airways are most frequently caused by pneumococci in both adults and children, and pneumo...