Global Pneumococcal Strain Bank

The CDC Streptococcus Laboratory in collaboration with numerous partners in academia and industry has developed a S.pneumoniae strain bank repository. The primary purpose of this project that was funded for 3-years by PATH (2008-2011) was to accumulate an extensive, diverse, well characterized, collection of pneumococcal isolates causing invasive disease and pneumonia, recovered primarily from children in developing countries.

Detailed phenotypic (serotyping and antibiograms) and genotypic testing (MLST) on these isolates has beenperformed and this data together with associated demographic information is available for each isolate. The bank includes more than 6,000 isolates, both from pneumococcal disease and carriage from 60 different countries, including 30 developing countries.

For access to isolates and additional information contact Dr. Lesley McGee at lmcgee@cdc.gov.