Incidence and types of group a streptococcal pyoderma and pharyngitis in children in Barbados

ABSTRACT

Group A streptococci recovered with equal frequency from the skin or upper respiratory tract during two winter months from children in Barbados under 15 years of age. Pyoderma affected 21 percent of this group and nearly half (44 percent) of the cases were associated with Group A streptococci. No evidence of nephritis was found in patients with pyoderma or upper respiratory tract isolates and may be due to the absence of nephritogenic strains in the population at the time of the study or a low attack rate of disease within a small group. T-type patterns 11/12 in the skin and 3/13/B 3264 in the upper respiratory tract were recovered most commonly. Further studies are needed to determine the importance of streptococci infection in this population (AU)