Flu helps spread pneumonia

Via EurekAlert!, excerpt :

" Bacteria that cause pneumonia and meningitis are only able to spread when individuals are infected with flu, says a scientist reporting at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. The work could have implications for the management of influenza pandemics and could help reduce incidence of pneumococcal infections in very young children, who are more susceptible to disease.

Streptococcus pneumoniae normally lives harmlessly in the nasal passage. Up to 80% of young children carry the bacterium in their nose. It is already known that if a colonized individual is infected with influenza virus, the bacterium is more likely to spread to other parts of the body and may cause potentially life-threatening infections such as pneumonia, sepsis or meningitis. Young children, the elderly and the immunocompromised are most vulnerable to these secondary bacterial infections. S. pneumoniae kills more than one million children under the age of five each year."