OBJECTIVE In a large private tertiary care hospital we compared the two different approaches to group B streptococcal screening and intrapartum chemoprophylaxis suggested by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: risk factor-based protocol and culture-based protocol. STUDY DESIGN A 2-year...

Concentrated and partially purified preparations of streptococcal supernates containing streptolysin O have been shown to inhibit selectively the oxidative metabolism of mitochondria procured from the myocardium of rabbits and guinea pigs, the findings pointing to an interference with the action of the coenzyme diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPN) (1). Further studies have demonstrated that these...

Streptococcal sepsis in neonates is a potentially lethal condition. A wide spectrum of clinical presentations has been often reported in Group B Streptococcal infections in neonates. Bone and joint infections which are caused by Group B Streptococcus are also encountered frequently, but they have not yet been reported in case of Group A Streptococcal infection in neonates. Here, we are reportin...

OBJECTIVE To find out whether poststreptococcal reactive arthritis (PSRA) is a discrete, homogeneous clinical syndrome. METHOD Literature review from case reports and case series. RESULTS One hundred and eighty-eight cases were identified. The age distribution was bimodal, with one peak in childhood and one peak in adulthood. Eighty-three percent of streptococcal isolates were group A. The ...

The outbreak of the post-streptococcal neurological disorders related to the antibasal ganglia antibodies is broadening. In addition to the disorders such as chorea and obsessive-compulsive disorder which have been recognized previously, the movement and behavioral abnormalities are the other aspects of post-streptococcal neurological disorders.  Streptococcus is a positive-gram and coccus...

Streptococcal adhesion, invasion, intracellular trafficking, dissemination and persistence in eukaryotic cells have a variety of implications in the infection pathogenesis. While cell adhesion establishes the initial host contact, adhering bacteria exploit the host cell for their own benefit. Internalisation into the host cell is an essential step for bacterial survival and subsequent dissemina...

A number of experiments have suggested that there is an antigenic relationship between the HLA complex and streptococcal bacterial structures. Using inhibition of cytotoxicity of HLA antisera as our assay system, it was demonstrated that the inhibitory effect on HLA cytotoxicity by streptococcal antigens is, in reality, due to activation and consumption of components of the alternate complement...

Molecular mimicry is a hallmark of the pathogenesis of rheumatic fever where the streptococcal group A carbohydrate epitope, N-acetyl glucosamine, and the a-helical coiled-coil streptococcal M protein structurally mimic cardiac myosin in the human disease, rheumatic carditis, and in animal models immunized with streptococcal M protein and cardiac myosin. Recent studies have unraveled the potent...

Group A streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins A, B, and C (also known as scarlet fever toxins and erythrogenic toxins) were evaluated for relatedness to another streptococcus-derived lymphocyte mitogen, blastogen A. Streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin A and blastogen A were immunologically cross-reactive and shared the same molecular weight, N-terminal amino acid sequence, and capacity to stimulate ra...

The case presented is of a patient with migratory polyarthritis and serological evidence of a recent streptococcal infection, consistent with the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever, who in addition had multisystem disease manifestations. This case supports the concept that the sequelae of streptococcal infection can encompass a broader clinical spectrum than is suggested by the Jones criteria f...