by Christoph — Strep­to­coc­cus pneu­mo­niae and its ilk are among the first hu­man pathogens dis­cov­ered. Strep­to­cocci were first de­scribed by the Aus­trian sur­geon Theodor Bill­roth in 1874, and Louis Pas­teur showed in 1879 that they were the eti­o­log­i­cal agent (mi­croor­gan­isms and mi­cro­bial tox­ins that cause dis­ease in hu­mans) re­spon­si­ble for puer­peral fever in women. Strep­to­coc­cal in­fec­tions vary in sever­ity from...