Streptococcus Pneumococcus Research Articles

Effectiveness of Pineapple Extract (<i>Ananas comosus</i> (L.)) on Streptococcus Pneumococcus Growth

Pneumonia accounts for 15% of all deaths of children under 5 years of age, and causes death to 808,694 children in 2017. Based on the results of the Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) 2007, shows that the national prevalence of URI: 25.5%, pneumonia morbidity in infants: 2.2%, underfives: 3%, 23.8% of infant mortality, and 15.5% under fives. The use of traditional medicine is a treatment that has been carried out from generation to generation and is part of the history of human culture. One of the natural ingredients that can be used as traditional medicine is pineapple (<i>Ananas comosus</i> (L)). Research on the effectiveness of pineapple extract has been conducted <i>Ananas comosus</i> (L.)) on the growth of <i>Streptococcus pneumonia</i>. This type of research is a pure laboratory experimental study in vitro. In this study, the inhibition and killing power of pineapple extract (<i>Ananas comosus</i> (L.)) against the growth of <i>Streptococcus pneumonia</i> at various concentrations of 0.5%; 1%; 2%; 4%; 8%; 10%; 20%; 30%; 40%; 50%; 60%; 70%; 80%; 90%; 100%. This research was conducted at the Lampung Province Health Laboratory Center which was carried out from June to November 2018. The results of the One-way Anova test analysis obtained a <i>p-value</i>=0,000 so that the <i>p-value</i><0.05, which means that The concentration of pineapple extract tested had an effect on the growth of bacteria <i>Streptococcus pneumococcus</i> and the results of the Least Significance Different (LSD) or Post hoc LSD (<i>p-value</i><0.05) showed that pineapple extract was effective in inhibiting and killing <i>Streptococcus pneumococcus</i> at a concentration of 8%.

The research progress in protein-based pneumococcal vaccines

Streptococcus pneumoniae remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among younger children and the elders. Streptococcus pneumococcus vaccines on the market have major disadvantages because of the limitation of serotypes. Therefore, it is an urgent need to develop an economic and broadly protective vaccines based on the bacterial proteins. The virulence factors and antigens expressed on the surface as potential candidates make a big progress. This review summarizes the components of protein-based pneumococcal vaccines in clinical trials, and the characteristics of the proteins, the protection in the infected animals and clinical trials. It will help readers to understand current status of protein-based pneumococcal vaccines. Key words: Streptococcus pneumoniae; Vaccine; Protein

Low rate of influenza and pneumococcal vaccine coverage in rheumatoid arthritis: Data from the international COMORA cohort

BackgroundRheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients are at increased risk of suffering from respiratory infections than the general public. Vaccinations against Streptococcus pneumococcus and influenza are recommended, but not often used in RA. Our objectives were: (1) to describe pneumococcal and influenza vaccine coverage in RA patients across various countries and (2) to identify factors associated with their usage. MethodsUsing data from the COMORA cohort, 3920 RA patients were enrolled across 17 countries. We collected patient demographic and disease characteristics, and reported vaccine use over a six month time period. We used logistic regression to evaluate factors related to pneumococcal and influenza vaccine coverage. ResultsOverall vaccination coverage within the recommendations was low with huge disparities between countries: 17.2% (95%CI: 16.0–18.4) for pneumococcal vaccination (from 0% in Morocco to 56.5% in France) and 25.3% (95%CI: 23.8–26.5) for influenza vaccination (less than 1% in Morocco and Egypt to 66.2% in Japan). In countries where immunization was more frequent, we found that predictive factors of vaccination were older age, lower disease activity, higher educational level, use of biotherapy, absence of corticosteroid therapy, and presence of comorbidities. ConclusionDespite international recommendations for influenza and pneumococcal vaccination, we observed a low prevalence of these vaccinations among RA patients, with huge disparity between countries. Efforts are needed to better inform patients and physicians regarding the need for vaccinations.

PatA and PatB Form a Functional Heterodimeric ABC Multidrug Efflux Transporter Responsible for the Resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to Fluoroquinolones

All bacterial multidrug ABC transporters have been shown to work as either homodimers or heterodimers. Two possibly linked genes, patA and patB from Streptococcus pneumococcus, that encode half-ABC transporters have been shown previously to be involved in fluoroquinolone resistance. We showed that the ΔpatA, ΔpatB, or ΔpatA/ΔpatB mutant strains were more sensitive to unstructurally related compounds, i.e., ethidium bromide or fluoroquinolones, than the wild-type R6 strain. Inside-out vesicles prepared from Escherichia coli expressing PatA and/or PatB transported Hoechst 33342, a classical substrate of multidrug transporters, only when both PatA and PatB were coexpressed. This transport was inhibited either by orthovanadate or by reserpine, and mutation of the conserved Walker A lysine residue of either PatA or PatB fully abrogated Hoechst 33342 transport. PatA, PatB, and the PatA/PatB heterodimer were purified from detergent-solubilized E. coli membrane preparations. Protein dimers were identified in all cases, albeit in different proportions. In contrast to the PatA/PatB heterodimers, homodimers of PatA or PatB failed to show a vanadate-sensitive ATPase activity. Thus, PatA and PatB need to interact together to make a functional drug efflux transporter, and they work only as heterodimers.