SUPERINFECTIONS

About:

• Influenza is caused by a virus, but the most common cause of death is secondary bacterial pneumonia rather than the influenza virus per se.
  
  
• Pneumococcal infections are the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia and a leading global cause of death.
  
  
• A prior influenza virus infection sensitizes for pneumococcal infections, but mechanisms behind this increase susceptibility are not fully understood.
  
  
• Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now identified influenza-induced changes in the lower airways that affect the growth of pneumococci in the lungs.