Streptococcus Pneumoniae: Overview

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the major reasons for increased mortality rates in the world. It is gram-positive bacteria that can live in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. It is an opportunistic invasive bacterium that finds any host cell and disrupts its normal functioning and invades it. It causes various diseases like otitis media, sinusitis, pneumonia and bronchitis. Children and people with various diseases are at higher risk of causing the infection. 92 serotypes have been found till now among which serotypes 6B, 6A, 9V, 14, 15A, 19F, 19A, and 23F are known as pediatric serotypes. Although conventional or long established microbiological approaches were applied, including present-day antigen recognition procedures in laboratories for the determination and prognosis of pneumococcal infections. In this regard, pneumococcal conjugate (i.e. PCV13, PCV15, and PCV20) and pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPSV23) vaccines are at present on the market. The time period of carriage goes fluctuates and is generally prolonged in children than in adults. In contrast, researchers do not understandably the interrelationship of carriage to the build-out of natural immunity.
This review, will discuss the introduction of the bacterium, the serotypes, the diseases it causes, and the vaccines made.