A Bacteriological Study of Acute Pharyngitis in Children Aged 5-15 Years with Special Reference to Streptococcal Grouping

Acute pharyngitis is the most common upper respiratory tract infection responsible for significant morbidity in the childhood. Even though various bacteria and viruses are incriminated in the etiology, streptococci are of utmost importance worldwide. They are so common in school years that they are called “Occupational diseases of the school children (Kaplan et al., 1980). Apart from its high incidence, what makes the streptococci special is not the ability to cause adenitis, otitis media, otitis media, pneumonia or infrequently meningitis. However, the mysterious pathogenic relationship to its non-suppurative sequelaee like acute rheumatic fever and acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis does make the organism unique. These non-suppurative sequelaee are still responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. Rheumatic heart disease remains the major cardiovascular disease in many parts of the world especially in non-developed countries. In India Rheumatic heart disease accounts for 16.5 to 50 percent of the cardiac patients attending OPD and wards in a hospital (OP Ghai 5 th International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 5 Number 8 (2016) pp. 721-730 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com