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 Original Articles |
| A Study on the Carrier Rate of β-Hemolytic Streptococci in Children of Three Elementary Schools in Kangweondo |
| Seon Ju Kim, Eui Chong Kim*, Ji Young Park*, Sung Kweon Kim*, Jin Tae Suh**, Sung Ho Cha+ |
| Department of Clinical Pathology, Capital Armed Forces General Hospital, and Seoul National University College of Medicine*, Department of Clinical Pathology**, and Department of Pediatrics+, Kyunghee University Hospital, Seoul, Korea |
Vol.24 Num.3 (p143~151)
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Group A β-hemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis has been studied very widely in area of pediatrics, because of its severe sequelae, that is, acute rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis. Throat culture is gold standard to confirm group A streptococcal (GAS) pharyngitis. Antistreptolysin-O (ASO) test is also performed to investigate the immune state of GAS pharyngitis. In this study, the carrier rate of β-hemolytic streptococci (BHS) was evaluated on 798 children of three elementary schools located in Kangweondo on March and April, 1992. The carriers of BHS were 108 (13.5%) of which male were 63 (14.1%), female 45 (12.8%) respectively. The carrier rate of BHS was high in 12 (20.3%) and 11 (19.4%) year old children, compared to 2.4% in 13 year old. The carrier rate was ranged from 13.0% to 15.8% in three schools. Of 108 strains, 79 (73.2%) were identified as group A, 14(13.0%) as group G, 6(5.6%) as group B, 3(2.9%) as group C, and 6 as non-group A, B, C, G respectively. The demography of positive rate of GAS showed similar pattern to the one of BHS. The carriers of GAS were 79(9.9%) of which male were 49 (11.1%), female 30(8.5%) respectively. ASO of 85 children haboring BHS were screened by Rapidia-ASO(Fujirebio, Japan). The positive rate of ASO was 79.4% in GAS cases, 65% in non-GAS cases respectively. This result means that ASO is not sufficient to differentiate true infection from carrier and can be raised in non-GAS cases.
This study will help clinician know present bacteriologic and epidemiologic knowledge of BHS in Korean children.
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