All issues > Volume 43(10); 2000

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 2000;43(10):1323-1329. Published online October 15, 2000.

Epidemiologic Characteristics of T Serotyping in Relation to the Outbreak of Erythromycin Resistant Streptococcus pyogenes

Sung-Ho SH Cha², Kyu Jam KJ Hwang¹, Young Hee YH Lee¹

¹Laboratory of Molecular Bacteriology, National Institute of Health, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence Sung-Ho SH Cha ,Email: tcha0319@netsgo.com

Abstract

Purpose
: The identification of antigenic specificity of Streptococcus pyogenes using T serotyping is important to understand biologic characteristics of microorganisms. We would like to disover the association of the occurrence of predominant T type, with possible outbreak of erythromycin resistant Streptococcus pyogenes in this country, which has been documented since the late 1990s.
Methods
: Throat swab cultures were taken from a total of 1,294 normal school children(Subject A) in two different geographical areas. A total of 92 strains(Subject B) were obtained from the patients with group A streptococcal infections from Jan. 1998 to Dec. 1998. All strains were serotyped with T protein antisera.
Results
: The distribution of T12 in Uljin increased from 4.2%(1996) to 45.7%(1998). T4 increased from 6.3% to 20.0%. Thirty-eight out of 92 strains were resistant to erythromycin. Twenty-seven out of 41 strains(T12) were multidrug resistant to erythromycin, clindamycin, and tetracycline.
Conclusion
: We can see the sudden increase in T12 strains, one of the strains that are resistant to erythromycin in 1998, compared with previous years. T protein serotyping could be epidemiologically useful as a screening methods for detecting erythromycin resistant group A streptococci in hospitals where the routine antibiotic sensitivity test dose not examin for streptococci.

Keywords :Streptococcus pyogenes, Erythromycin, T serotype, Antibiotic sensitivity test, Epidemiology