Open Accessemm Types, Virulence Factors, and Antibiotic Resistance of Invasive Streptococcus pyogenes Isolates from Italy: What Has Changed in 11 Years?
Author(s) -
Roberta Creti,
Monica Imperi,
Lucilla Baldassarri,
Marco Pataracchia,
Simona Recchia,
Giovanna Alfarone,
Graziella Orefici
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.00513-07
Subject(s) - streptococcus pyogenes , clindamycin , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , erythromycin , virulence , superantigen , tetracycline , antibiotics , antibiotic resistance , streptococcus , penicillin , streptococcaceae , virology , bacteria , staphylococcus aureus , gene , genetics
To investigate the epidemiology and characteristics of invasive group A streptococcal (GAS) disease over 11 years in Italy, this study compared theemm types and the superantigen toxin genesspeA andspeC as well as the erythromycin, clindamycin, and tetracycline susceptibilities of 207 invasive GAS strains collected during two national enhanced surveillance periods (1994 to 1996 and 2003 to 2005) and the time between each set of surveillance periods. The present study demonstrated thatemm 1 strains were consistently responsible for about 20% of invasive GAS infections, while variations in the frequencies of the other types were noted, although the causes of most cases of invasive infections were restricted toemm 1,emm 3,emm 4,emm 6,emm 12, andemm 18. During the 1994 to 1996 surveillance period, anemm 89 epidemic clone spread across the northern part of Italy. A restricted macrolide resistance phenotype-type distribution of the bacteriophage-encodedspeA toxin as well as of macrolide resistance genes was noted over time. Indeed, the recent acquisition of macrolide resistance in previously susceptibleemm types was observed.