Virulence Factors of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Comparison between African and French Invasive Isolates and Implication for Future Vaccines.

Background: Many surface proteins thought to promote Streptocococcus pneumoniae virulence have recently been discovered and are currently being considered as future vaccine targets. We assessed the prevalence of 16 virulence genes among 435 S. pneumoniae invasive isolates from France and the "African meningitis belt" region, with particular focus on serotype 1 (Sp1), to compare their geographical distribution, assess their association with site of infection and evaluate their potential interest as new vaccine candidates.

Multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis of Streptococcus pneumoniae and comparison with multiple loci sequence typing.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae infections remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The diversity of pneumococci was first evidenced by serotyping of their capsular polysaccharides, responsible of virulence, resolving into more than 93 serotypes. Molecular tools have been developed to track the emergence and the spread of resistant, hyper virulent or non-vaccine type clones, particularly DNA-based methods using genetic polymorphism.

[Acute appendicitis due to both Klebsiella pneumoniae and serotype 35B Streptococcus pneumoniae, an emergent serotype].

Streptococcus pneumoniae has been rarely considered as an infectious agent in appendicitis. We report a case of a 47-year-old woman with acute appendicitis caused both by serotype 35B S. pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Efficacy of a swab transport system in maintaining long-term viability of Staphylococcus aureus.

The noncharcoal liquid Amies swab transport system (Copan, Bovezzo, Italy) can be used for the collection and transport of biologic samples from carriers and infected patients for the detection of strains of Staphylococcus aureus in epidemiologic field studies. We suggest that the maximum holding time, between swab collection and culture, should be 18 days.