During the past ten years we have followed 252 patients with sickle-cell anemia. Of these patients 16, or 6.3 per cent, have had meningitis. No meningitis has been seen in any of our 31 patients with ...

Differences in the genetic code of pneumococcal bacteria have been identified by researcher that may explain why it poses such a risk to children with sickle cell disease and why current vaccines ...

In oval-shaped Streptococcus pneumoniae, septal and longitudinal peptidoglycan syntheses are performed by independent functional complexes: the divisome and the elongasome. Penicillin-binding proteins ...

An international team of academics has studied how localized infections can turn into the dangerous systematic disease sepsis – and has identified for the first time through genetic evidence that a ...

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a phospholipid with proinflammatory properties that binds to a specific receptor (PAF receptor [PAFR]) that is expressed on many different cell types. PAFR is able ...

A new study released this week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases finds that African children who contract pneumococcus – a bacterial infection that causes pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis – are 36 ...

Prophylaxis with penicillin and pneumococcal vaccination has been shown to reduce the incidence of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children with sickle cell disease, but some patients continue to progress ...

Introduction of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) a decade ago in France was associated with a significant reduction in acute chest syndrome (ACS) for children with sickle cell ...

Separation of daughter cells during bacterial cell division requires splitting of the septal cross wall by peptidoglycan hydrolases. In Streptococcus pneumoniae, PcsB is predicted to perform this ...

A new study by University of Liverpool researchers reveals how resistance to bacteraemic pneumonia is provided by a unique subset of lung T regulatory cells. Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus ...