Description
| - Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, is gram-positive, alpha-hemolytic, bile-soluble aerotolerant anaerobe and a member of the genus Streptococcus. A significant human pathogenic bacterium, S. pneumoniae was recognized as a major cause of pneumonia in the late 19th century and is the subject of many humoral immunity studies.
Despite the name, the organism causes many types of pneumococcal infection other than pneumonia, including acute sinusitis, otitis media, meningitis, bacteremia, sepsis, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, endocarditis, peritonitis, pericarditis, cellulitis, and brain abscess.
S. pneumoniae is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in adults, children, and dogs, and is one of the top-two isolates found in ear infection, otitis media. Pneumococcal pneumonia is more common in the very young and the very old.
S. pneumoniae can be differentiated from Streptococcus Viridans, some of which are also alpha-hemolytic, using an optochin test, as S. pneumoniae is...
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