Abstract

Group A Streptococcal infections have increased in severity and frequency worldwide. We report a female patient that was admitted by Group A Streptococcal lethal toxic shock syndrome due to pharyngitis as the primary focus and without cutaneous involvement. Streptococcus pyogenes was isolated from blood cultures and case definition fulfilled standard recommendations. Epidemiological studies among family members showed, that two children (aged 5 and 12 years) harbored the same strain in their pharynxes as confirmed by arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR) using primers ERIC and Pn-1. Control strains were included in the analysis. None of three health care workers involved in intubation and laryngoscopic procedures with the patient carried S pyogenes. AP-PCR appears to be a useful and rapid procedure to demonstrate clonal relatedness among S pyogenes strains.