Streptococci are oval or globular shaped bacteria that live on the surface of soil, plants, and the skin of humans and animals.
Not all streptococci and not all streptococci can cause disease.
However, their pathogenic forms contribute to the so-called streptococcal infection, the manifestations of which are very different.
There are also so-called streptococcal carriers - people who are not sick themselves, but are able to infect a weakened or susceptible person.
Moreover, microbes parasitize not only humans, but also other mammals.
B-streptococci - Streptococcus agalactiae - were first isolated in the treatment of chronic mastitis in cows.
These bacteria have come to the attention of many researchers and scientists in recent years as causative agents of various genitourinary infections in humans.
Strains of these microorganisms are isolated from the female birth canal and male urethra.
This is why it is so common to see spouses or sexual partners carrying the bacteria.
B-streptococci are urethral and pharyngeal, meaning they can parasitize both the urethra and the host's pharynx.
In the middle zone of Russia, streptococcal infections are considered one of the most common forms of bacterial diseases.
For example, in some populations, streptococci are found in 5-40% of healthy people with the bacteria living in the gastrointestinal tract and genitals.
Such people are bacillus carriers.
In particular, B-streptococci are more often present in the vagina of clinically healthy women, which is one of the sources of nosocomial infection and ensures permanent infection of newborns.
Statistics are such that about 65-75% of infants are infected with streptococci during delivery if such infection is present in their mothers.
Unfortunately, most adults are carriers of streptococci without even knowing it: this condition does not show any symptoms, but it can be transmitted from person to person through sexual contact.
When the streptococcus makes itself known, the signs of the disease are nonspecific and resemble the symptoms of other sexually transmitted infections - gonococcal, chlamydia, herpes, mycoplasma and others.
In this case, there is purulent, serous or bloody discharge, inflammation of mucous membranes, dysuria, etc.
After streptococci were found in 1874 in pus from infected wounds, they were immediately considered as the cause of many diseases.
In 1906, German, Russian and French researchers proved that the so-called hemolytic streptococcus was capable of causing scarlatina.
It was later found that different types of streptococci provoke numerous diseases, including rheumatism.
Nowadays, no one even doubts that the most common causative agent of throat diseases is streptococcus.
For example, by the time they leave school, most children will have had several sore throats (acute tonsillitis).
And the disease can occur as a mild form, almost without symptoms, and in a very severe, with a strong rise in temperature.
The most characteristic signs of sore throat are sore throat, swelling and soreness of tonsils and surrounding tissues.
In addition to sore throat, B-streptococci cause otitis media, genitourinary diseases, pressure sores, wound suppuration, diabetic ulcers, endocarditis, pneumonia, septic arthritis, various abscesses and osteomyelitis.
If the patient is bedridden, there is a risk of streptococcal meningitis or pneumonia.
As a result of streptococcal infection, diseases such as dysbacteriosis, pyelonephritis, enteritis, swelling, vaginitis, etc. also occur.
In particular, pneumococcus (Streptococcus pneumoniae) is often present in the human upper respiratory tract and is part of the normal pharyngeal flora.
Carrying this type of streptococcus is not accompanied by any symptoms, which negates all the efforts of doctors to isolate the sick patient.
This fact was established as far back as 1926.
As for respiratory infections, in such patients pneumococci are present not only in the upper respiratory tract secretion, but also in other body fluids, especially in inflammatory exudates.
Pneumococcus was first described by Klebs, who isolated the microorganism from the sputum of a pneumonia patient.
In the following years, many papers have appeared on the role of pneumococcus in the development of bronchial and pulmonary infections.
The frequency of isolation of this strain of streptococcus depends largely on the age of the patient, the presence of antibodies and microbiological methods.
The number of pneumococcal carriers decreases with age, with adults without children less susceptible to the infection.
The highest percentage of bacillus carriers is observed in organized collectives - barracks, orphanages, hospital hospitals, schools, etc.
Infection most often develops into disease in children under 2 years of age and the elderly.
Among additional risk factors for the development of a severe condition can be called concomitant chronic pathologies and immunodeficiency.
In general, pneumococcus is the leading causative agent of respiratory diseases, the most serious of which is pneumonia.
But since most pneumococcal infections are endogenous, epidemiologic situations are virtually non-existent.
Pneumonia most often develops in patients with impaired sputum drainage, such as people with chronic bronchitis or who have had a severe viral infection.
In this case, pneumococcus infiltrates the lower respiratory tract and causes this dangerous disease.
During pneumonia epidemics, the infection spreads by airborne droplets from person to person.
However, natural defense mechanisms are at work here, the main task of which is to filter and eliminate foreign bacteria before they reach the pulmonary alveoli.
This is realized in part by the work of the tonsils, filtering the air in the nasal passages with further neutralization of the pneumococcus by macrophages.
Both physical and antibacterial factors are important.
If any one factor fails to sterilize the alveoli due to the presence of chronic bronchitis or acute respiratory infection, the person develops pneumonia.
