In this study, we developed a simple, reliable, serotype-specific PCR method to differentiate Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes 6A, 6B, and 6C. It was more efficient and practical than the assays currently being used to identify serotypes 6A, 6B, and 6C. Of 120 selected serogroup 6 isolates from subjects with invasive (n = 101) and noninvasive (n = 19) pneumococcal disease, most of which were ...

The Janus cassette permits marker-free allelic replacement or knockout in streptomycin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) through sequential positive and negative selection. Spontaneous revertants of Janus can lead to high level of false-positives during negative selection, which necessitate a time-consuming post-selection screening process. We hypothesized that an additional cou...

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS The new fluoroquinolones WCK 771, WCK 1152 and WCK 1153 were developed to overcome quinolone resistance in Gram-positive bacteria. The activity of these new quinolones was tested against 159 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae and 52 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes using the microbroth dilution method. RESULTS MIC50/MIC90 values (mg/L) of WCK 771, ...

BACKGROUND Rational treatment of pneumonia requires knowledge of the likely aetiological diagnosis in any community. Little is known about the pattern and outcome of pneumonia in Saudi Arabia. METHODS A total of 567 pneumonic episodes in adult patients from the Al-Qassim area were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS Patients had a mean age of 42.7 years, with 103 patients (18%) aged 13 to 20 ...

The word “pneumoniae” is misspelled in the article title. The correct title is: Host Glycan Sugar-Specific Pathways in Streptococcus pneumoniae: Galactose as a Key Sugar in Colonisation and Infection. The correct citation is: Paixão L, Oliveira J, Veríssimo A, Vinga S, Lourenço EC, Ventura MR, et al. (2015) Host Glycan Sugar-Specific Pathways in Streptococcus pneumoniae: Galactose as a Key Suga...

We aimed to study the prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae in respiratory samples from institutionalized patients with chronic tracheostomy. A total of 264 pairs of nasopharyngeal and endotracheal cultures were collected. There was no difference in the proportion of positive cultures between children (21%) and adults (18%). However, the proportion of positive endotracheal cultures was higher ...

A new nitrocellulose-based solid-phase multiantigen immunoassay (MAIA) for the detection of serum antibodies to Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular polysaccharides (PPSs) is presented. Evaluation with human sera showed that the MAIA test is reproducible, sensitive, and specific. It correlated well with a conventional ELISA method. The multiantigen strip system allowed quantification of antibodies...

From May through October 2009, a total of 10,624 clinical samples from 23 US states were screened for multiple respiratory pathogen gene targets. Of 3,110 (29.3%) samples positive for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus, 28% contained ≥ 1 other pathogen, most commonly Staphylococcus aureus (14.7%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (10.2%), and Haemophilus influenzae (3.5%).