Journal List > Korean J Pediatr Infect Dis > v.10(2) > 1118940

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Jung, Lee, Kwon, Maeng, and Kim: Epidemiological Characterization of Group A Streptococci Using emm Genotyping from Throat Cultures in Patients with Acute Pharyngitis in Children
Original Article

Korean Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases 2003; 10(2): 178-185.

Published online: 30 November 2003

DOI: https://doi.org/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

Hyun Ju Jung, M.D., Nam Yong Lee, M.D.*, Oh-Young Kwon, M.D.†, Kook Young Maeng, M.D.‡, Sunjoo Kim, M.D.‡

Department of Laboratory Medicine, Masan Medical Center, Masan, Korea.

*Department of Laboratory Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medine, Seoul, Korea.

†Department of Neurology, Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju, Korea.

‡Department of Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju, Korea.

Corresponding author (sjkim8239@hanmail.net)

Copyright © 2003 The Korean Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases

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.

Keywords: Group A streptococci, T type, emm genotype, Pharyngitis

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