The role of hyaluronidase in the occurrence of a generalized pneumococcal infection
Volkova, M.O.; Kostiukova, N.N.; Kvetnaia, A.S.
Zhurnal Mikrobiologii Epidemiologii i Immunobiologii Suppl 1: 118-122
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0372-9311 PMID: 7856338 Document Number: 436103
The hyaluronidase activity of pneumococcal strains isolated from 39 patients with purulent meningitis, 26 patients with acute internal otitis and 130 healthy carriers was studied. All strains isolated from patients with purulent meningitis and meningoencephalitis and 84.6% of strains isolated in cases of otitis were found to have hyaluronidase, while in healthy children hyaluronidase-synthesizing strains were detected only in 11.5% of cases. Hyaluronidase titers in pneumococcal strains isolated from patients with meningitis and meningoencephalitis were significantly higher than in strains causing purulent otitis. At the same time strains with high hyaluronidase titers were also isolated from 7% of healthy carriers. Noncapsular pneumococcal strains had no hyaluronidase. The average value of the reverse correlation between hyaluronidase activity and the virulence of strains for mice was established. Hyaluronidase activity did not correlate with different serotypes of pneumococcal strains. The intranasal administration of hyaluronidase in high titers (> or = 1:8) to mice and rats led to the penetration of the infective agent through the hematoencephalic barrier of the animals and to their death from generalized pneumococcal infection. The role of hyaluronidase as the invasiveness factor of pneumococci was confirmed in experiments on the intranasal infection of mice with low active strains mixed with the preparation of exogenous hyaluronidase.