Bacterial Respiratory Tract Colonization Prior to Catching the Flu May Protect Against Severe Illness

[Emily]

http://www.wistar.org/news-and-media/press-releases/bacterial-respiratory-tract-colonization-prior-catching-the-flu-may-pr

Bacterial Respiratory Tract Colonization Prior to Catching the Flu May Protect Against Severe Illness

July 10, 2014
Jan Erikson, Ph.D.

PHILADELPHIA?(July 10, 2014)?Many studies have shown that more severe illness and even death are likely to result if you develop a secondary respiratory infection after developing influenza. Now, however, a team of researchers based at The Wistar Institute has determined that if you reverse the order of infection, the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae (often called pneumococcus) may actually protect against a bad case of the flu.

The researchers discovered that the bacterial protein pneumolysin, which is described as a bacterial virulence factor, might protect macrophages?a type of immune system cell?in the lungs. Their findings, performed in a mouse model of influenza infection, appear in the August issue of the journal Virology, available online now (subscription required)...

Looks like the full text is here:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042682214002803
Pneumolysin expression by streptococcus pneumoniae protects colonized mice from influenza virus-induced disease

Author: Amaya I. Wolf,Maura C. Strauman,Krystyna Mozdzanowska,Katie L. Williams,Lisa C. Osborne,Hao Shen,Qin Liu,David Garlick,David Artis,Scott E. Hensley,Andrew J. Caton,Jeffrey N. Weiser,Jan Erikson
Publication: Virology
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: August 2014
Copyright ? 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.