In the study of upper respiratory infections, nose and throat cultures for beta hemolytic streptococci3 are essential. Since group A streptococci are implicated in human respiratory infections more than other groups, it is important that streptococci recovered on culture be identified as belonging to group A or not. The finding of streptococci which belong to groups other than A in the nose or ...

A commercial streptococcal grouping system was used to demonstrate streptococcal antigen in swabs before culture. The method detected 81% of the streptococci of groups A, B, C, and G subsequently isolated in culture. The method offers a sensitive and specific method for the early detection of beta-hemolytic streptococci.

A new 4-h commercial system (API 20S; Analytab Products, Plainview, N.Y.) for the identification of streptococci was compared with the conventional biochemical profile method in the species identification of alpha-hemolytic streptococci. A total of 194 clinical isolates (including 74 isolated from blood cultures, 64 isolated from wound cultures, and 56 isolated from respiratory cultures) and 20...

Two methods of typing group A hemolytic streptococci have been described: slide agglutination and anti-M precipitin tests. The first, developed by Griffith (1), is more extensively used. I t has the distinct advantages of requiring small amounts of serum and culture, and of a quick reaction time when all conditions are favorable. I t has certain disadvantages: The granular growth of some strain...

1. The hemolytic variety of streptococcus is homogeneous, consisting of members that are nearly identical. 2. This homogeneity is most strikingly displayed in the behavior of these streptococci in the complement fixation reaction, all the strains studied reacting in a nearly identical way with all the antisera.

An epidemic of infections due to group A Streptococcus haemolyticus type 12 originated in an infant with bronchiectasis, and involved children and nurses. Some of the children spread contagion; the nurses did not spread contagion. The children who spread contagion had few or no recognizable type 12 organisms in their throats; most of the nurses had type 12 predominant in their throat flora. Two...