title: Host-to-Host Transmission of the Pneumococcus-New Victims of a Toxic Relationship.
abstract: Host-to-host transmission is critical for survival of the human-adapted bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Zafar et al. (2017) show that transmission is dependent on nasopharyngeal inflammation elicited by the toxin pneumolysin, causing increased shedding and enhanced survival of the bacterium in the environment.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trappetti
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Infectious Diseases, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia. Electronic address: james.paton@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Paton
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006801:Humans; D009305:Nasopharynx; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins