Insights Into Pneumococcal Pneumonia Using Lung Aspirates and Nasopharyngeal Swabs Collected From Pneumonia Patients in The Gambia.
Dunne, Eileen M;
Hua, Yinglei;
Salaudeen, Rasheed;
Hossain, Ilias;
Ndiaye, Malick;
Ortika, Belinda D;
Mulholland, E Kim;
Hinds, Jason;
Manna, Sam;
Mackenzie, Grant A;
+1 more...Satzke, Catherine;
(2020)
Insights Into Pneumococcal Pneumonia Using Lung Aspirates and Nasopharyngeal Swabs Collected From Pneumonia Patients in The Gambia.
The Journal of infectious diseases, 225 (8).
pp. 1447-1451.
ISSN 0022-1899
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaa186
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BACKGROUND: We investigated the pathogenesis of pneumococcal pneumonia using clinical specimens collected for pneumonia surveillance in The Gambia. METHODS: Lung aspirates and nasopharyngeal swabs from 31 patients were examined by culture, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), whole genome sequencing, serotyping, and reverse-transcription qPCR. RESULTS: Five lung aspirates cultured pneumococci, with a matching strain identified in the nasopharynx. Three virulence genes including ply (pneumolysin) were upregulated >20-fold in the lung compared with the nasopharynx. Nasopharyngeal pneumococcal density was higher in pediatric pneumonia patients compared with controls (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that changes in pneumococcal gene expression occurring in the lung environment may be important in pathogenesis.
