![\"PNEUMOCOCCUS](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PNEUMOCOCCUS-copy.jpg?resize=384%2C282&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWilliam Osler<\/strong> called the Pneumococcus the \u2018captain on the ship of death\u2019 referring to the high mortality of the organism in the pre-antibiotic era. Indeed, mortality from pneumococcal pneumonia in the preantibiotic era was 30-50%.<\/p>\nThe Quellung reaction named after Friedrich (\u201cFred\u201d) Neufeld<\/strong> is still a recognized way to identify S. pneumoniae in tissue sections. \u2018Quellung\u2019 is the German word for \u2018swelling\u2019 as the polysaccharide capsule becomes visibly larger upon exposure to antiserum. Neufeld also discovered bile solubility of the Pneumococcus, and, most importantly, the principle of opsonization, the facilitation of phagocytosis by WBC in the presence of serum factors.<\/p>\nAnton Weichselbaum<\/strong> from Vienna was one of the first to recognize the broad pathogenic potential of S. pneumoniae. He reported meningitis, bacteremia and endocarditis cases and named the organism Diplococcus pneumoniae. He also discovered the \u2018other diplococcus\u2019, Neisseria meningitidis.<\/p>\nIn a landmark study, Oswald Avery showed convincingly that DNA carried the information which determines morphologic changes. His experiments with rough and smooth variants of S. pneumoniae laid the foundation for genetic manipulation via transformation.<\/p>\n
Robert Austrian\u2019s<\/strong> life-long work on serotyping led to the polyvalent vaccines still in use today. With antibiotic resistance on the rise, there is now renewed interest in preventative measures which were nearly abandoned when penicillins and sulfonamides were discovered.<\/p>\nOne should not omit Sir Almroth Wright<\/strong> from the list of giants that contributed to the field. His steadfast support of immunization efforts for the coal miners of South Africa saved many lives.<\/p>\nLouis Pasteur<\/strong> and George Sternberg<\/strong> are credited with the initial isolation of the Pneumococcus in 1881. Sternberg, according to Robert Koch the \u201cfather of American microbiology\u201d worked with Walter Reed on many projects including tuberculosis. Note: the Reed-Sternberg giant cell in Hodgkins lymphoma were named so in honor of 2 other researchers, Dorothy Reed and Carl (von) Sternberg. Confusingly, they associated these cells with a special form of lymphatic TB. The latter worked in Vienna like Weichselbaum.<\/p>\nWork by the Klemperers<\/strong> showed that immunization with killed bacteria conferred protection which can be passively transferred, thus laying the foundation of the concept of humoral immunity.<\/p>\nMorganroth<\/strong> found already in 1911 that optochin, a quinine derivative, had antipneumococcal activity. The drug proved too toxic for clinical use but was the first attempt at chemotherapy, predating Ehrlich\u2019s Salvarsan by more than 10 years.<\/p>\nThe Pneumococcus continues to be a threat and remains a focus of research. The pneumococcal vaccines available are preventing infection with the serotypes they contain but efficacy is an age-related phenomenon. In the elderly, protection is rather incomplete. Antibiotic resistance to penicillins has steadily increased in the last 30 years. We rely on the activity of vancomycin for cases of meningitis but tolerance to vancomycin has been described in 1999, including isolates from the CSF. Fortunately, true vancomycin resistance seems to be still\u00a0rare.<\/p>\n
General References:<\/strong><\/p>\nR Austrian JID 1999;179(Suppl 2):S338
\nE Janoff \u00a0Streptococcus pneumoniae. \u00a0Chapter 201 Mandell, PPID 2014
\nD Watson. CID 1993;17: 913
\nL Mitchell. \u00a0Concise Rev Pediatr Infect Dis.2001, p531<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018He who knows syphilis knows medicine\u2019 goes the saying. In a similar way this adage could be applied to the Pneumococcus, aka Streptococcus pneumoniae, Diplococcus pneumoniae or Diplococcus lanceolatus by saying \u201cHe who knows S. pneumoniae knows microbiology\u201d. Many \u2018big names\u2019 studied the\u00a0organism. \u00a0Their work on the Pneumococcus led to Continue reading The Pneumococcus, Prominent Microbiologists, Contributions and Cross-Connections<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[140],"tags":[403,852,872,863,851,871,864,859,856,862,857,873,860,861,869,853,866,848,850,865,867,849,868,854,855,858,870],"class_list":["post-1287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting_facts","tag-antibiotic-blog","tag-anton-weichselbaum","tag-carl-sternberg","tag-chemotherapy","tag-diplococcus","tag-dorothy-reed","tag-ehrlich","tag-fred-neufeld","tag-george-sternberg","tag-klemperer","tag-louis-pasteur","tag-meningitis","tag-morgenroth","tag-optochin","tag-oswald-avery","tag-penicillin-resistance","tag-quellung","tag-robert-austrian","tag-s-pneumoniae","tag-salvarsan","tag-serotyping","tag-streptococcus-pneumoniae","tag-transformation","tag-vancomycin-tolerance","tag-walter-reed","tag-william-osler","tag-wright"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/4-PneumoExperts.jpg?fit=640%2C180&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KWFr-kL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1840,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/08\/06\/1840\/the-etiology-of-cap-remains-elusive-a-call-to-change-antibiotic-prescribing-patterns\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":0},"title":"The Etiology of CAP Remains Elusive \u2013 A Call to Change Antibiotic Prescribing Patterns","author":"Harald","date":"August 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Once upon\u00a0a time - not so long ago -\u00a0we were taught the following: Streptococcus pneumoniae was the cause of 90% of CAP cases. That statement was later modified to mean S. pneumoniae was the underlying pathogen in 90% of bacterial\u00a0cases of CAP, i.e., those with positive cultures from sputum or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recent Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Recent Literature","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/recent_literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CAP slider 2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/CAP-slider-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/CAP-slider-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/CAP-slider-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3071,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2017\/01\/19\/3071\/cdc-report-pan-resistant-ndm-klebsiella-nevada-sad-tale\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":1},"title":"CDC Report on Pan-Resistant NDM Klebsiella in Nevada\u2013 A Sad Tale","author":"Harald","date":"January 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"During the past few weeks the case of a patient with MDR Klebsiella infection has made the news. We are told that this particular pathogen is \u201cresistant to 26 antibiotics\u201d. We were informed that the patient had multiple prior hospitalizations in India, supposedly the origin of the uncontrolled untreatable infection.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recent Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Recent Literature","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/recent_literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/CDC-KP-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/CDC-KP-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/CDC-KP-slider.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2435,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2016\/04\/17\/2435\/the-brave-new-world-of-infectious-diseases\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":2},"title":"The Brave New World of Infectious Diseases","author":"Harald","date":"April 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Coming back from ECCMID, one\u00a0gets the impression that we are moving towards an era in which\u00a0we can diagnose everything but treat nothing. A late breaker session on colistin resistance provided much detail data on the situation in the EU. As we know, colistin resistance conferred by the mcr-1 gene has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The News"","block_context":{"text":"The News","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/the_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ECCMID slider","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ECCMID-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ECCMID-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ECCMID-slider.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3100,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2017\/01\/24\/3100\/kill-mocking-bug-cre-crab-variety\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":3},"title":"To Kill A Mocking Bug – of the CRKP or CRAB Variety","author":"Harald","date":"January 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Meropenem stands out as an antibiotic to be used first in ESBL and MDR infections, given its efficacy profile and safety record (see earlier blog). It also would seem to be appropriate to use relatively high doses or prolonged infusion times \u2013 or both - to improve T>MIC for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recent Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Recent Literature","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/recent_literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Mero-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Mero-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Mero-slider.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1882,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2015\/08\/23\/1882\/clinical-biofilm-studies-an-interesting-evolving-landscape\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":4},"title":"Clinical Biofilm Studies \u2013 An Interesting Evolving Landscape","author":"Harald","date":"August 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent article on \u201cAgents that Prevent Biofilm Formation\u201d captured my interest[1].\u00a0 The authors reviewed the literature and mentioned many substances which have shown in-vitro efficacy in disrupting biofilm production by the main offenders, i.e., S. aureus, S. epidermidis, P. aeruginosa and K. pneumoniae. These substances come with very diverse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recent Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Recent Literature","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/recent_literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"BIOFILM - slider","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/BIOFILM-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/BIOFILM-slider.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/BIOFILM-slider.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2313,"url":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/2016\/03\/03\/2313\/iv-fosfomycin-to-the-rescue-and-to-a-place-near-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":5},"title":"IV Fosfomycin To The Rescue \u2013 And To a Place Near You","author":"Harald","date":"March 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent letter to the Editor by Simkins et al. is worth reviewing [1]. The authors describe the complicated course of a patient who suffered graft rejection after liver transplantation, received broad-spectrum antibiotics during prolonged hospitalization and eventually had a bloodstream infection with carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) which was resistant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recent Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Recent Literature","link":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/category\/recent_literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fosfomycin - slider copy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Fosfomycin-slider-copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Fosfomycin-slider-copy.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Fosfomycin-slider-copy.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1287"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1298,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions\/1298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"PNEUMOCOCCUS](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allphasepharma.com\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/PNEUMOCOCCUS-copy.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n