Post Pandemic Pneumococcal Carriage Among Children and Adults

Summary

The PI propose to conduct a genomic epidemiology study of pneumococcal carriage among children and adults in a large metropolitan city. These data will allow PI to assess the post-pandemic population structure, investigate the phylogenetic relationship between isolates from children and adults, and compare pneumococcal populations across diverse geographic areas.

Detailed Description

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic profoundly impacted human health directly and indirectly. As such, elucidating pre- and post-pandemic trends in the epidemiology and population genomics of human respiratory pathogens including those such as the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae, a human commensal and the causative agent of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), merits study. Nasopharyngeal samples will be processed at the PIs Laboratory to identify S. pneumoniae. If present, the isolate will undergo bacterial whole genome sequencings and population dynamic analysis. Carriage prevalence and serotype composition will be compared to extant studies and pneumococcal genomic data will be analyzed in the context of samples from the US and abroad.

Eligibility Criteria