Streptococcus Pneumoniae

Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, is a Gram-positive, alpha-hemolytic, aerotolerant anaerobic 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 infections other than pneumonia. These invasive pneumococcal diseases include acute sinusitis, otitis media, meningitis, bacteremia, sepsis, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, endocarditis, peritonitis, pericarditis, cellulitis, and brain abscess.

S. pneumoniae is one of the most common causes of bacterial meningitis in adults and young adults, along with Neisseria meningitidis, and is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in adults in the USA. It is also 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 optochin-sensitive. S. pneumoniae can also be distinguished based on its sensitivity to lysis by bile (the so-called "bile solubility test.") The encapsulated, Gram-positive coccoid bacteria have a distinctive morphology on Gram stain, the so-called, "lancet-shaped" diplococci. They have a polysaccharide capsule that acts as a virulence factor for the organism; more than 90 different serotypes are known, and these types differ in virulence, prevalence, and extent of drug resistance.