Open AccessPrevalence of the speA2 and speA3 alleles in Streptococcus pyogenes isolated from TSLS patients in Japan
Author(s) -
Matsumoto Masakado,
Murai Teiko,
Ichiyama Satoshi,
Saito Makoto,
Arakawa Yoshichika,
Ohta Michio
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1997.tb10375.x
Subject(s) - allele , streptococcus pyogenes , biology , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , bacteria , staphylococcus aureus
More than 100 cases have been identified as streptococcal toxic shock‐like syndrome (TSLS) in Japan, since the first case was reported in 1993. Of 26 S. pyogenes isolates associated with TSLS, 69% were M‐types 1 and 3. This study focused on speA alleles which were carried by all M‐type 1 and 3 isolates and isolates of some other M‐types, irrespective of sources. We sequenced the nucleotides of the relevant region of the speA allele in all of these isolates. Consistent with other reports, these M‐type 1 and 3 isolates carried the speA2 and speA3 alleles, respectively. Our results indicate that these two speA alleles, which were prevalent worldwidely have been disseminating in Japan.