Insights into the Interaction between Influenza Virus and Pneumococcus

Bacterial infections following influenza are an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Based on the historical importance of pneumonia as a cause of death during pandemic influenza, the increasingly likely possibility that highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses will trigger the next worldwide pandemic underscores the need to understand the multiple mechanisms underlying the interaction between influenza virus and bacterial pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae. There is ample evidence to support the historical view that influenza virus alters the lungs in a way that predisposes to adherence, invasion, and induction of disease by pneumococcus. Access to receptors is a key factor and may…

• AL
  American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities
• NI
  National Institutes of Health