Since 2000, emm49-genotyped Streptococcus pyogenes strains have been isolated from patients with severe invasive group A streptococcal infections in Japan, although they had not been isolated before 1999. We compare the characteristics of these strains with those of strains isolated from patients with non-invasive infections. SmaI-digested pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profiles of the isolat...

Immune status of apparently healthy Nepalese against hemolytic streptococci was studied by measuring antibodies to various streptococcal antigens such as streptolysin-O (SO), streptokinase (SK), deoxyribonuclease-B (DN-B) and streptococcal polysaccharide (SP). The normal range of anti-streptolysin-O (ASO), anti-streptokinase (ASK), anti-deoxyribonuclease-B (ADN-B) and anti-Streptococcus polysac...

OBJECTIVE (a) To develop an assay for streptokinase resistance. (b) To determine the prevalence of streptokinase resistance in patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction for the first time. (c) To determine the prevalence of streptokinase resistance in patients after exposure to streptokinase or streptococcal infection. DESIGN Open, prospective. PATIENTS 30 healthy volunteers. 40 ...

The bactenal thrombolytic agent streptokinase binds to human, porcine, and chicken lactate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.27; LD) isoenzyme subunit M, but not to the H or C subunits. There is amino acid sequence homology between LD and the streptokinase binding site on plasminogen to account for this interaction that results in the formation of high-molecular-mass complexes in serum that contain LD ac...

Streptococcus pyogenes, a multiple-auxotrophic human pathogen, regulates virulence gene expression according to nutritional availability during various stages in the infection process or in different infection sites. We discovered that CvfA influenced the expression of virulence genes according to growth phase and nutritional status. The influence of CvfA in C medium, rich in peptides and poor ...

A patient developed serum sickness and acute renal failure following therapy with streptokinase for myocardial ischaemia. There was a previous history of a cellulitic infection of the leg, and antibodies to streptokinase were measurable in a serum sample taken from the patient before therapy. A cryoglobulin was detected at the time of presentation with serum sickness. This contained polyclonal ...

INTRODUCTION Group A Beta-Hemolytic Streptococcus (GABHS) can induce PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infection). GABHS is the most important and common bacterial cause of acute pharyngitis in Iranian children. We studied the role of GABHS (anti-streptococcal antibodies) in suspected cases of PANDAS in a cross sectional studies. METHODS Acr...

The role of early effective drainage in loculated tuberculous (TB) pleurisy treatment remains unclear. Consecutive patients with TB pleurisy subjected to anti-TB treatment and pigtail drainage (n = 64) were divided into three groups: 1) patients with free-flowing effusions irrigated with saline (free-flowing group; n = 20); 2) patients with loculated effusions irrigated with streptokinase (stre...