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Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 18e
| Part 8. Infectious Diseases > Section 5. Diseases Caused by Gram-Positive Bacteria > |
Chapter 134. Pneumococcal Infections
Sections: Pneumococcal Infections: Introduction, Further Readings, Web Sites.
Topics Discussed: pneumococcal infections.
Excerpt:"In the late nineteenth century, pairs of micrococci were first recognized in the blood of rabbits injected with human saliva by both Louis Pasteur working in France and George Sternberg, an American army physician. The important role of these micrococci in human disease was not appreciated at that time. By 1886, when the organism was designated "pneumokokkus" and Diplococcus pneumoniae, the pneumococcus had been isolated by many independent investigators, and its role in the etiology of pneumonia was well known. In the 1930s, pneumonia was the third leading cause of death in the United States (after heart disease and cancer) and was responsible for  7% of all deaths both in the United States and in Europe. While pneumonia was caused by a host of pathogens, lobar pneumonia—a pattern more likely to be caused by the pneumococcus—accounted for approximately one-half of all pneumonia deaths in the United States in 1929. In 1974, the organism was reclassified as Streptococcus pneumoniae.Pneumococci are spherical gram-positive bacteria of the genus Streptococcus. Within this genus, cell division occurs along a single axis, and bacteria grow in chains or pairs—hence the name Streptococcus,..."
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