Streptococcus pneumoniae is facultative anaerobic bacteria which have about 90 known serotypes. The bacteria are gram-positive and lancet-shaped. In terms of infection, most of the Streptococcus pneumonia serotypes can cause bacterial diseases. However, it should be put into consideration that only a minority of serotypes can cause pneumococcal infections. Pneumococcal bacteria are mostly found within the respiratory tract of human beings and may be separated from the nasopharynx of a healthy person of close to 5-90%. Streptococcus pneumonia usually occurs in pairs known as diplococci. Nevertheless, contrary to some of the bacteria Streptococcus pneumonia may occur in a single as well as a short state. Important for these bacteria is that when they are cultured in the blood agar they occur as alpha-hemolytic. As concerns the identification and instrument for microbiology observation, a 3X hand lens is one of the tools which can be used in differentiating the viridans streptococci from pneumococcal. As a scientific procedure may dictate Streptococcus pneumonia can be observed through the use of catalase, gram stain, as well as optochin tests. The tests can be done simultaneously with the bile solubility applied as a solubility test. Some grams and proteins seen in the surface of gram-positive organisms are responsible for the contribution of pathogenesis in which Streptococcus pneumonia is part of. Most microorganisms produce molecules that are essential for their colonization of the host organisms. The production of these molecules is geared at increasing the effectiveness which in return helps the bacteria in evasion of the immune system of the host organisms. Also, it propagates the entry and exists of the bacteria from the cells. Important is that the molecules produced enables bacteria to gain nutrients from the host. The pathogenic potentials of pneumococcal bacteria are attributable to a number of structures which are mostly located at its surface. The virulence factors found in the microorganism include capsule and some proteins. These two provides a form of resistance to phagocytosis thereby creating an escape route for the pneumococci particularly from the host immune system. There are wide ranges concerning virulence factors which are involved in pneumococcal pathogenesis. Nevertheless, their role in the cause of the disease has not been established (Demczuk et al., 2017). Despite the fact that there has been a lack of these establishments, S pneumonia has been linked to being the major cause of community-acquired pneumonia. Also, the bacteria are responsible for other diseases such as otitis media, bacterial meningitis, and septic arthritis. These diseases can be characterized by a number of conditions and symptoms such as infections to the lungs, infections to the career’s bloodstream and the condition in which there is the coverage around the spinal cord and the brain. According to Demczuk et al. (2017), the predisposing factors for this disease include direct contact with a person suffering from the diseases particularly when there is contact with the person’s secretions such as mucus and saliva. Other factors which are seen as responsible for the causing of these conditions include smoking and asthma for adults.
Despite the use of many vaccines which have been developed to deal with this infection, Streptococcus pneumoniae still remains to be one of the deadliest diseases causing high morbidity and mortality rates in equal measure. As stated earlier, the bacterium is responsible for the cause of a number of infections of the lungs. However, the immune system of humans is marked by a number of defense mechanisms. These arrays of mechanisms include mucociliary, complement phagocytes, clearance, effector cells, and antibodies (Zhang et al., 2015). There are some defense mechanisms existing at the early stage consisting of the innate system of immune arrangements. Despite their lack of specificity, these defense mechanisms are essential for the slowing and prevention of infections. The responses of Ab antibodies against pneumococcal infections as expressed by B cells can be generated through the pathways of T-cells (Zhang et al., 2015). It means that there are different categories of defense mechanisms produced by the body which can reduce the infection rate. If one is suffering from pneumonia, there are some noted immune responses which will be witnessed such as lungs getting infected. In case the immune system is found to be weak, pneumonia-causing pathogens are likely to multiply. The lungs can get inflamed in their attempts to fight the invasion. The inability of the body immune system to respond to these conditions can be caused by factors such as age and illness. The most common disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae is pneumonia. Even though there are some other diseases such as meningitis, sinus infections, and ear infections. For the sake of this discussion, the main focus for the disease infection caused by Streptococcus pneumonia is the pneumonia infections. The disease is known to affect the lung of the patients. If not treated within the early stages, the disease is likely spread with its major cause Streptococcus pneumonia bacterium spread to the bloodstream thus causing the spread to the blood barrier of the brain. The moment there is the trace of infection to brain barrier, their bacteria spreads to affect meninges thereby causing meningitis (Kew & Seniukovich, 2014). Failure in treatment of pneumonia is likely to create room for the spread of these bacteria which result in infection of other organs resulting in organ failure. Pneumonia can be categorized as a chronic disease. In the case of this, there is a likelihood that the diseases will not be diagnosed for at least six months. For the case of chronic pneumonia, there is the inclusion of different approaches to medication, for instance, the inhaled corticosteroids which have been found to increase the rate of pneumonia (Kew & Seniukovich, 2014). The organ system affected by pneumonia is the respiratory system. It is an opportunistic pathogen found within the lung of human beings. It occurs at a mild state but can be triggered with some conditions.
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A 30-year-old male patient was taken to the infectious disease department. The patient was complaining of chest pains when coughing. Looking at the patient, he appeared fatigued and weak in undertaking most of the basic activities including working. Worse was that the patient was sweating, while exhibiting evidence of fever and shaking chills. The patient said that these coughs and fevers started 3 days ago. Treatment history from the records indicates that the patient had symptoms of breathing problems a week ago. Even though placed under outpatient treatment program, he was not responsive to medical advice and directives. There are no significant related health conditions reported within the patient’s family circle. However, social records indicate that the patient frequents social drinking joints where he indulges in alcohol and cigarette smoking. The patient has not recorded any cases for allergies and no medication pertaining to allergic conditions.
Through physical examination and blood tests, there were recorded heart rates of over 100. The temperatures were above 37.00 C with records indicating 38.30 C. The systolic blood pressure of this patient was recorded to be below 90millimeters of the mercury. Rapid breathing of more than 30 breathes per minute. Streptococcus pneumonia still remains to be one of the main causes of community-acquired pneumonia (Drijkoningen & Rohde, 2014). From the laboratory test done on this patient, it was revealed that there were symptoms of pneumonia in which antibiotics were prescribed. There were recommendations for the closer checks in which the patient was admitted for inpatient medical care. The routine use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV13 and PCV7) since the year 2000 has resulted in the reduction of pneumococcal diseases, particularly the invasive ones. There is a recommendation for the use of PCV13 among the 6-year-old children up to the time they attain 18 years. As a medical prescription, the children are supposed to receive a single dose of PCV13 especially to children with higher prevalence. The same recommendations are applicable to healthier children within the same age limits of 6 years. The medication should be administered to children from the age of two months through to 59 months (Committee on Infectious Diseases, 2014). This medication is replaced with PCV7 when the children attain the 60th month through to the time they reach 70 months. This type of vaccination is known as Live-attenuated vaccine. In this type of vaccine, there is the use of a weakened form of the pathogen, in this case, Streptococcus pneumonia. Due to the fact that these vaccines are similar to the natural conditions, they can help in the prevention and creation of a stronger as well as lasting immune response (Committee on Infectious Diseases, 2014). It is recommended that a single dose of PCV 13 is given to children of 6 months through to the time they reach 18 years of age. This is applicable to children with immune-compromising conditions including HIV. The recommendation for the vaccination should take place regardless of the PCV7 or PPSV23 immunization received earlier.
There are chemotherapeutic agents which have been used in the treatment of diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. Some of the antimicrobial agents applied and used in most of the cases include PRSP particularly used as a therapy for meningitis. The agents, in this case, include penicillin, vancomycin, erythromycin, and cefotaxime (Behler-Janbeck et al., 2016). For many decades, the Streptococcus pneumonia bacterium has been treated using β-lactam as the antibiotic. However, there are seen cases of resistance which has been widespread. Daptomycin is one of the effective lipopeptide antibiotics with excellent treatment feedback for gram-positive bacterial pathogens. Even though it is realized that daptomycin provides little evidence of its efficacy in the treatment of pneumonia, it is very effective in the prevention of Streptococcus pneumonia-caused deaths. Therefore, it can be deduced that daptomycin offers therapeutic medical options for patients experiencing life-threatening pneumococcal diseases (Behler-Janbeck et al., 2016). Other chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of this infection are the C-type lectin receptors. This creates an avenue for the prevention of the disease as it creates a lung protective immunity that prevents Streptococcus pneumonia (Behler-Janbeck et al., 2016). Thus it is one of the recommended involvements in the treatment of pneumonia caused by the Streptococcus pneumonia bacterium.
There are about 90 strains of the pneumococcal bacterium. Before the introduction of the 7-valent conjugate vaccine, most of the antibacterial resistance was found in serotype 19. Before, the most straightforward and known treatment for the bacteria was penicillin. However, due to mutations and adaption, the bacteria developed penicillin-no susceptible S. pneumonia an agent which is responsible for pneumonia resistance. This informed the introduction of Levofloxacin which has been found to be effective in vitro activity against the S. pneumonia. Important is that Levofloxacin is responsible for the reduction of S. pneumonia, especially to the penicillin-resistant bacterium which has persisted for more than six months. However, there are no clear bases for the recommendations of Levofloxacin as it does not provide mechanisms for the treatment of ever-mutating penicillin-nonsusceptible S. pneumonia. Important to put into consideration is that the pathogen does not cause risks to the clinicians or any other health professional who might be engaged in the treatment of patients. As stated earlier the antibiotic for the treatment of persistent penicillin-nonsusceptible S. pneumonia ss Levofloxacin.
References
Behler-Janbeck, F., Takano, T., Maus, R., Stolper, J., Jonigk, D., Tarrés, M. T., ... & Stocker, B. L. (2016). C-type lectin Mincle recognizes glucosyl-diacylglycerol of Streptococcus pneumoniae and plays a protective role in pneumococcal pneumonia. PLoS Pathogens , 12 (12), e1006038.
Committee On Infectious Diseases. (2014). Immunization for Streptococcus pneumoniae infections in high-risk children. Pediatrics , 134 (6), 1230-1233.
Demczuk, W. H., Martin, I., Hoang, L., Van Caeseele, P., Lefebvre, B., Horsman, G., ... & Bernier, J. D. (2017). Phylogenetic analysis of emergent Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 22F causing invasive pneumococcal disease using whole genome sequencing. PloS one , 12 (5), e0178040.
Drijkoningen, J. J. C., & Rohde, G. G. U. (2014). Pneumococcal infection in adults: Burden of disease. Clinical Microbiology and Infection , 20 , 45-51.
Kew, K. M., & Seniukovich, A. (2014). Inhaled steroids and risk of pneumonia for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews , (3).
Zhang, L., Li, Z., Wan, Z., Kilby, A., Kilby, J. M., & Jiang, W. (2015). Humoral immune responses to Streptococcus pneumoniae in the setting of HIV-1 infection. Vaccine , 33 (36), 4430-4436.
