Susceptibility of Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci to thirteen antibiotics: examination of 301 strains isolated in the United States between 1994 and 1997

Abstract

These data indicate that antibiotic resistance among recent isolates of group A streptococci (including those from patients with severe infections) currently is not a clinically significant problem in the United States.

The M protein of group A Streptococcus is a key virulence factor and a clinically relevant strain identification marker

“…44 Macrolide resistance offers an excellent example of a phenotype that is more highly correlated with M type and for which M typing offers a significant degree of predictive power. A strong association between erythromycin (or other macrolide) resistance has been shown for M4, M6, M12 and M75-members of this small group are responsible for much of the observed macrolide resistance in surveys of GAS isolates from the US, 44,49,50 Belgium, 51 Greece 52 and Spain. 53,54 In general, the majority of isolates of these types are found to be resistant, while only scattered isolates of other serotypes exhibit the same resistance phenotype-with some local exceptions, such as the dominance of M2 among erythromycin resistant isolates in Italy.…”

4. Pharyngeal carriage of Group A streptococci among school children

“…33 On the other hand, resistance rates as low as 0.5% and 1.6% have been found in Netherlands and South-western Germany respectively. 32,13,16 Resistance to Erythromycin was found in 5.2% isolates in studies by Dumre et al, in Nepal. 22 The resistance to Erythromycin was 3.8% in Ankara as per the studies of Horu et al 34 In the present study, all the 60 isolates were found to be uniformly susceptible to Penicillin and Vancomycin.…”

“…31 Although there have been recent isolated reports of macrolide resistance in the United States, there is no evidence that this is widespread at the present time, as less than 5% of Group A streptococci isolates in the United States have been shown to be resistant to Erythromycin. 6,32 High rates of resistance have also been observed in Australia(17%) and UK(22.8%). 33 On the other hand, resistance rates as low as 0.5% and 1.6% have been found in Netherlands and South-western Germany respectively.…”

Molecular Characterization of Streptococcus pyogenes Isolated from Children with Pharyngitis

“…SAg gene distribution and emm typing analysis used in comparing different isolates of s. pyogenes [8], along with these techniques pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis are also used widely used in comparing different isolates of same bacterial species [9]. Highly variability occurs in mm gene among S.pyogen strain which is important surveillance tools.…”

“…Highly variability occurs in mm gene among S.pyogen strain which is important surveillance tools. For example in Taiwan, emm1, emm4, and emm12 strains were the leading causes of noninvasive disease; few emm 1 strain had speC and speH: few emm12 had speJ and smcZ [9], in Spain, emm 1 S. pyogenes associated with pharyngitis possessed speA, speG and speJ, but not spec, speH, spel, and ssa [10]. The M protein is virulence factors associated with colonization and resistance to phagocytosis [11].…”