Korean J Pediatr Infect Dis.  2003 Nov;10(2):178-185. 10.14776/kjpid.2003.10.2.178.

Epidemiological Characterization of Group A Streptococci Using emm Genotyping from Throat Cultures in Patients with Acute Pharyngitis in Children

• Jung HJ
• Lee NY
• Kwon OY
• Maeng KY
• Kim S

• KMID: 2440085
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14776/kjpid.2003.10.2.178

Abstract

PURPOSE
Group A streptococci(GAS) was isolated from the patients with acute pharyngitis. Epidemiological studies using T typing and emm genotyping was performed for GAS and compared with the results of the carriers.
METHODS
Throat cultures were taken from 246 children(123 boys, 123 girls) from November, 2001 to May, 2002 who visited a pediatrician's office located in Jinju, Gyeongnam province. T types were identified with slide agglutination and emm genotypes were identified with DNA sequencing after amplification of emm genes.
RESULTS
One hundred thirty(52.8%) out of 246 children yielded beta-hemolytic streptococci, of which 96.1% were group A. Children from 4 to 7 years old comprised 70.4% of the GAS positive group. T12 were the most common(35.2%) and T non-typeable strains were the next(30.4%). emm12 was most frequent(28.5%), and emm75(18.7%), emm22(13.0%), emm2(12.2%), and emm8(8.1%) were relatively common.
CONCLUSION
Since GAS is so highly prevalent in acute pharyngitis, indeed being half of the population, good clinical practice dictates the systematic employment of throat culture for acute pharyngitis before prescribing antibiotics in a pediatric setting. The distribution of the T antigens and emm genes showed similar pattern between the acute pharyngitis and the carriers.

Keyword

Group A streptococci; T type; emm genotype; Pharyngitis

MeSH Terms

Agglutination
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Antigens, Viral, Tumor
Child*
Employment
Epidemiologic Studies
Genotype
Gyeongsangnam-do
Humans
Pharyngitis*
Pharynx*
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Antigens, Viral, Tumor