A group of bacteria depend on flu epidemics to spread and cause pneumonia and meningitis, an expert tells a UK conference today.
The streptococcus bacteria spread from the nose within the bodies of children when their immune systems are weakened by the flu virus, according to Dr Dimitri Diavatopoulos.
Talking about the streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, he says a flu outbreak also helps the bug to move between individuals.
Dr Diavatopoulos, of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Holland, sets out his theory to the conference of the Society for General Microbiology in Harrogate, UK.
His conclusions come from a study of laboratory mice. He said infection with flu allowed the bacteria to multiply in the nose and then spread through the body.
It is carried in the noses of up to 80 per cent of young children, he said.
He said: "During influenza pandemic planning, when a high proportion of the population is infected with the virus, this is important.
"The findings are particularly relevant to childcare centres as up to 80 per cent of children are asymptomatic carriers of S. pneumonia and are more vulnerable to developing serious infections such as pneumonia or meningitis.”
He added: "We think that the flu virus increases the bacterial load in the nose of colonised individuals but also makes uncolonised individuals more susceptible to pneumococcal infection by altering host immunity."
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