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VIII.129 - Streptococcal Diseases

from Part VIII - Major Human Diseases Past and Present

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Kenneth F. Kiple
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Ohio
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Summary

Streptococci are responsible for many common and not so common human and animal diseases. Streptococcal pharyngitis, scarlet fever, impetigo, erysipelas, neonatal meningitis and sepsis, puerperal sepsis, and bacterial endocarditis all follow infection with streptococci. In addition, some streptococci provoke two peculiar postinfectious conditions: acute rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis. Rebecca Lancefield (1933) divided streptococci into distinct serologic groups, labeled A, B, C, D …, each with a number of separate subgroups. In addition to these groups, microbiologists further classify streptococci on whether and how they hemolyze red blood cells (alpha: incomplete or green hemolysis; beta: complete or clear hemolysis). According to this tradition, the streptococcus responsible for pharyngitis is known as a “group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus.” Another member of the genus Streptococcus is the Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacteria responsible for pneumonia.

The streptococcus has a number of biological peculiarities that alter its ability to infect humans. The genetic insertion of a bacteriophage produces a toxin responsible for the rash of scarlet fever. A group of proteins, known as the M protein, renders the streptococcus impervious to the normal bodily defense of phagocytosis. Hemolysins and enzymes, when present, help the streptococcus to invade the host. One can speculate that this potential biological variability is responsible for the abrupt changes that streptococcal illnesses have made in the past (Gallis 1984).

Streptococcal illness can be extremely common. Few have escaped streptococcal pharyngitis or superficial impetigo of the skin. Alternately, some forms of streptococcal illness are rare. An example is streptococcal endocarditis. Most streptococcal diseases are spread through respiratory droplets.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1993

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References

Cheadle, Walter Butler. 1889. Various manifestations of the rheumatic state. London.Google Scholar
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Holmes, Oliver Wendell. 1842–3. On the contagiousness of puerperal fever. New England Quarterly Journal of Medicine 1.Google Scholar
Lancefield, Rebecca C. 1933. A serological differentiation of human and other groups of hemolytic streptococci. Journal of Experimental Medicine 57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Löftier, Friedrich. 1884. Untersuchungen über die Bedeutung der Micro-Organismen für die Entstehung der Diphtherie beim Menschen, bei der Taube und beim Kalbe. Mittheilungen aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte 2.Google Scholar
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