Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome caused by the dissemination of an invasive emm3/ST15 strain of Streptococcus pyogenes.

Authors: Sekizuka, Tsuyoshi and Nai, Emina and Yoshida, Tomohiro and Endo, Shota and Hamajima, Emi and Akiyama, Satoka and Ikuta, Yoji and Obana, Natsuko and Kawaguchi, Takahiro and Hayashi, Kenta and Noda, Masahiro and Sumita, Tomoko and Kokaji, Masayuki and Katori, Tatsuo and Hashino, Masanori and Oba, Kunihiro and Kuroda, Makoto

Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus [GAS]) is a major human pathogen that causes a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Although invasive GAS (iGAS) infections are relatively uncommon, emm3/ST15 GAS is a highly virulent, invasive, and pathogenic strain. Global molecular epidemiology analysis has suggested that the frequency of emm3 GAS has been recently increasing.A 14-year-old patient was diagnosed with streptococcal toxic shock syndrome and severe pneumonia, impaired renal function, and rhabdomyolysis. GAS was isolated from a culture of endotracheal aspirates and designated as KS030. Comparative genome analysis suggested that KS030 is classified as emm3 (emm-type) and ST15 (multilocus sequencing typing [MLST]), which is similar to iGAS isolates identified in the UK (2013) and Switzerland (2015).We conclude that the global dissemination of emm3/ST15 GAS strain has the potential to cause invasive disease.

Journal: BMC infectious diseases
DOI: 10.1186/s12879-017-2870-2
Year: 2017

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