Faculty

Lee Harrison, MD Professor, Department of Medicine - School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology - Graduate School of Public Health (Secondary Appointment) Head, Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit Director, Public Health Infectious Diseases Laboratory E-mail: lharriso@edc.pitt.edu Phone: 412-624-3332 Address: 521 Parran Hall 130 DeSoto Street Pittsburgh, PA 15261

Education

BA; University of Pennsylvania; 1978
MD; Emory University School of Medicine; 1982

Research Interests

Epidemiology and molecular epidemiology of bacterial pathogens, including Escherichia coli 0157:H7, Streptococcus pneumoniae, group B Streptococcus, and Neisseria meningitidis; epidemiology and vaccine prevention of HIV infection in Brazil; enhanced surveillance methods for the detection of naturally-occurring and bioterrorism-related outbreaks

Research Summary

A major focus of Dr. Harrison's work during the past few years has been in the use of molecular epidemiology to understand how certain infectious diseases spread and are transmitted. Ongoing studies involve understanding how Streptococcus pneumoniae spreads within populations, correlating the changing epidemiology of meningococcal disease with the strains of Neisseria meningitidis causing invasive infections, and identifying areas of DNA sequence diversity in Escherichia coli 0157:H7 that can be exploited for outbreak detection. Current methods being used include pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, PCR, multi-locus sequence typing, and typing using variable number tandem repeats.

Recent Publications

• Nuorti, J.P., Butler, J.C., Farley, M.M., Harrison, L.H., McGeer, A., Kolczak, M., and Breiman, R.F. (2000). Cigarette smoking and invasive pneumococcal disease. N. Engl. J. Med. 342:681-689.
• Santoro-Lopes, G., Harrison, L.H., Tavares, M.D., Xexéo, A., dos Santos, A.C., and Schechter, M. (2000). HIV disease progression and V3 serotypes in Brazil: Is B different from B-Br? AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 16:953-958.
• Barroso, P.F., Schechter, M., Gupta, P., Melo, M.F., Vieira, M., Murta, F.C., Souza, Y., and Harrison, L.H. (2000). Effect of antiretroviral therapy on HIV-1 shedding in semen. Ann. Intern. Med. 133:280-284.
• McEllistrem, M.C., Pass, M., Elliott, J.A., Whitney, C.G., and Harrison, L.H. (2000). Clonal groups of penicillin-nonsusceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae in Baltimore, Maryland: a population-based, molecular epidemiologic study. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38:4367-4372.
• Whitney, C.G., Farley, M.M., Hadler, J., Harrison, L.H., Lexau, C., Reingold, A., Lefkowitz, L., Cieslak, P.R., Cetron, M., Zell, E.R., Jorgensen, J.H., Schuchat, A., Facklam, R.R., and Bennett, N.M. (2000). Increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in the United States. N. Engl. J. Med. 343:1917-1924.
• Harrison, L.H., Pass, M.A., Mendelsohn, A.B., Egri, M., Rosenstein, N.E., Razeq, J., and Roche, J.C. (2001). Invasive meningococcal disease in adolescents and young adults. JAMA 286:694-699.
• Albanese, B.A., Roche, J.C., Pass, M., Whitney, C.G., McEllistrem, M.C., and Harrison, L.H. (2002). Geographic, demographic, and seasonal differences in penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in Baltimore. Clin. Infect. Dis. 34:15-21.
• McEllistrem, M.C., Mendelsohn, A.B., Pass, M., Elliott, J.A., Whitney, C.G., Albanese, B.A., and Harrison, L.H. (2002). Distribution of penicillin-nonsusceptible pneumococcal clones in the Baltimore metropolitan area and variables associated with drug resistance. Clin. Infect. Dis. 34:704-707.
• Beall, B., McEllistrem, M.C., Gertz, R.E., Boxrud, D.H., Besser, J.M., Harrison, L.H., and Whitney, C.G. (2002). Emergence of a novel penicillin resistant, invasive, serotype 35B clone of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the United States. J. Infect. Dis. 186:118-122.

• Panackal, A.A., M'ikanatha, N.M., Tsui, F.C., McMahon, J., Wagner, M.M., Dixon, B.W., Zubieta, J., Phelan, M., Mirza, S., Morgan, J., Jernigan, D., Pasculle, A.W., Rankin, J.T. Jr., Hajjeh, R.A., and Harrison, L.H. (2002) Automatic electronic laboratory-based reporting of notifiable infectious diseases at a large health system. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 8:685-691.

• Noller, A., McEllistrem, M.C., Stine, O.C., Morris, Jr. J.G., Boxrud, D.J., Dixon, B., and Harrison, L.H. (2003). Multilocus sequence typing reveals a lack of diversity among Escherichia coli 0157:H7 isolates that are distinct by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41:675-679.
• McCormick, A.W., Whitney, C.G., Farley, M.M., Lynfield, R., Harrison, L.H., Bennett, N.M., Schaffner, W., Reingold, A., Hadler, J., Cieslak, P., Samore, M.H., and Lipsitch, M. (2003). Geographic diversity and temporal trends of antimicrobial resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae in the United States. Nat. Med. 9:424-430.
• Whitney, C.W., Farley, M.M., Hadler, H., Harrison, L.H., Bennett, N.M., Lynfield, R., Reingold, A., Cieslak, R.R., Pilishvili, T., Jackson, D., Facklam, R.R., Jorgensen, J.H., and Schuchat, A. (2003). Decline in invasive pneumococcal disease after the introduction of protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccine. N. Engl. J. Med. 348:1737-1746.
• Gertz, R.E. Jr., McEllistrem, M.C., Boxrud, D.J., Li, Z., Sakota, V., Thompson, T.A., Facklam, R.R., Besser, J.M., Harrison, L.H., Whitney, C.G., and Beall, B. (2003). Clonal distribution of invasive pneumococcal isolates from children and selected adults in the United States prior to 7-valent conjugate vaccine introduction. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41:4194-4216.

• Muto, C.A., Pokrywka, M., Shutt, K., Mendelsohn, A.B., Nouri, K., Posey, K., Roberts, T., Croyle, K., Krystofiak, S., Patel-Brown, S., Pasculle, A.W., Paterson, D.L., Saul, M., and Harrison, L.H. (2005) A large outbreak of Clostridium difficile-associated disease with an unexpected proportion of deaths and colectomies at a teaching hospital following increased fluoroquinolone use. Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 26:273-280.

• McEllistrem, M.C., Adams, J.M., Shutt, K., Sanza, L.T., Facklam, R.R., Whitney, C.G., Jorgensen, J.H., and Harrison, L.H. (2005) Erythromycin-nonsusceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae in children, 1999-2001. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 11:969-972.  

• Tuboi, S.H., Harrison, L.H., Sprinz, E., Albernaz, R.K., and Schechter, M.  (2005) Predictors of Virologic Failure in HIV-1-Infected Patients Starting Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in Porto Alegre, Brazil.  J. Acquir. Immune. Defic. Syndr.  40:324-328.

• Lexau, C.A., Lynfield, R., Danila, R., Pilishvili, T., Facklam, R., Farley, M.M., Harrison, L.H., Schaffner, W., Reingold, A., Bennett, N.M., Hadler, J., Cieslak , P.R., and Whitney, C.G.  (2005) Active Bacterial Core Surveillance Team. Changing epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease among older adults in the era of pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. JAMA 294:2043-2051.