Strain-Specific Virulence Phenotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae Assessed Using the Chinchilla laniger Model of Otitis Media

Abstract

As expected, there was a significant correlation between the rapidity of systemic disease onset and severity of systemic disease; however, there was little correlation between the severity of otoscopic changes and severity of systemic disease. Importantly, it was observed that different strains of the same serotype produced as broad an array of disease phenotypes as did strains of different serotypes. We attribute these phenotypic differences among the strains to the high degree of genomic plasticity that we have previously documented.