Noort, A.C. (2009) The interaction between influenza and pneumococcus. Bachelor's Thesis, Biology.
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Abstract
With the threat of the development of the avian H5N1 strain into a new pandemic influenza virus, possibly as dangerous as the 1918 H1N1, we cannot underestimate the importance of studies investigating the interaction between influenza and pneumococcus. Different influenza strains with a high mortality rate showed similar factors that may influence susceptibility to pneumococcal infection. This threat raises concerns about the limited knowledge of the exact mechanisms involved in the pathway leading to pneumococcal pneumonia. As a secondary bacterial infection is a common cause of death after influenza infection, this knowledge is of major importance for the development of therapies and methods to prevent death by influenza. This paper reviewed several influenza-induced factors that are shown to stimulate infection of S. pneumoniae. It is very well possible that these factors influence each other in the pathway leading to damage caused by pneumococcal pneumonia. The increased bacterial adhesion may have a combined action with the reduction of neutrophil and macrophage numbers due to PB1-F2 and IFN, thereby worsening the infection. These different factors may even act synergistically. The relation between these mechanisms and their exact effect should be investigated.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Biology |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Feb 2018 07:28 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Feb 2018 07:28 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/8522 |
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