How many strains of Streptococcus pyogenes are there?
S. pyogenes is a gram-positive, β-hemolytic streptococcus that is catalase negative. More than 150 different strains have been identified based on different M-protein types.
How many Streptococcus strains are there?
There are four different types of streptococcal bacteria—A, B, C, and G. Group A Streptococcus (GAS), also known as Streptococcus pyogenes, is the bacteria responsible for strep throat.
Is Streptococcus pyogenes strain strep throat?
Acute Streptococcus pyogenes infections may present as pharyngitis (strep throat), scarlet fever (rash), impetigo (infection of the superficial layers of the skin) or cellulitis (infection of the deep layers of the skin).
What disease comes from Streptococcus pyogenes?
Life-threatening infections caused by Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus) include scarlet fever, bacteremia, pneumonia, necrotizing fasciitis, myonecrosis and Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome (StrepTSS).
How is Streptococcus pyogenes spread?
These bacteria are spread by direct contact with discharges from the nose and throat of infected people or by contact with infected wounds or sores on the skin. The risk of spreading the infection is highest when a person is ill, such as when people have “strep throat” or an infected wound.
What are the characteristics of Streptococcus pyogenes?
Both S pyogenes and S pneumoniae are Gram-positive cocci, nonmotile, and nonsporulating; they usually require complex culture media. S pyogenes characteristically is a round-to-ovoid coccus 0.6-1.0 μm in diameter (Fig. 13-1).
Is Type C strep contagious?
Streptococcal bacteria are contagious. They can spread through droplets when someone with the infection coughs or sneezes, or through shared food or drinks. You can also pick up the bacteria from a doorknob or other surface and transfer them to your nose, mouth or eyes.
How do you treat Streptococcus pyogenes strain?
Treatment / Management pyogenes infections can be treated with vancomycin or clindamycin.  Intravenous antibiotic therapy and surgery for the removal of necrotic tissue are recommended in the case of soft tissue skin infection by S. pyogenes.
What does Streptococcus pyogenes look like?
They display a white-greyish color and have a diameter of > 0.5 mm, and are surrounded by a zone of β-hemolysis that is often two to four times as large as the colony diameter. Microscopically, S. pyogenes appears as Gram-positive cocci, arranged in chains (Figure 1).
What antibiotics treat Streptococcus pyogenes?
Penicillin or amoxicillin is the antibiotic of choice to treat group A strep pharyngitis. There has never been a report of a clinical isolate of group A strep that is resistant to penicillin. However, resistance to azithromycin and clarithromycin is common in some communities.
How common is Streptococcus pyogenes?
A ubiquitous organism, S pyogenes is the most common bacterial cause of acute pharyngitis, accounting for 15-30% of cases in children and 5-10% of cases in adults. During the winter and spring in temperate climates, up to 20% of asymptomatic school-aged children may be group A streptococcus carriers.
What kind of diseases can Streptococcus pyogenes cause?
Streptococcus pyogenes, also known as group A Streptococcus (GAS), is a common human pathogen that can induce a wide spectrum of diseases, ranging from noninvasive diseases, such as pharyngitis, scarlet fever, and impetigo, to invasive diseases, such as erysipelas, cellulitis, pneumonia, bacteremia, necrotizing fasciitis, and toxic shock syndrome.
Can a PSGN infection be caused by A streptococci infection?
PSGN is usually an immunologically-mediated, nonsuppurative, delayed sequela of pharyngitis or skin infections caused by nephritogenic strains of S. pyogenes. Reported outbreaks of PSGN caused by group C streptococci are rare. 1,2.
When was Streptococcus pyogenes first cultured?
Historically, Streptococcus pyogenes(group A streptococci) was first cultured and identified as the cause of erysipelas by Friedrich Fehleisen in 1883, and it received its species designation from Rosenbach in 1884. Today, laboratory diagnosis of group A streptococcal infections still largely relies on culturing bacteria from clinical specimens.
What kind of Media do you use for Streptococcus pyogenes?
Selective media for culturing Gram-positive bacteria (such as agar media that contains phenylethyl alcohol, or Columbia agar with colistin and nalidixic acid) also provide adequate culturing conditions for S. pyogenes.