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Impetigo Contagiosa. The Association of Certain Types of Staphylococcus Aureus and of Streptococcus Pyogenes with Superficial Skin Infections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

M. T. Parker ,
A. J. H. Tomlinson  and
R. E. O. Williams
M. T. Parker
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory, Manchester
A. J. H. Tomlinson
Affiliation:
Bacteriological Laboratory, County Hall, London
R. E. O. Williams
Affiliation:
Streptococcus and Staphylococcus Reference Laboratory, Central Public Health Laboratory, Colindale
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Summary

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In an investigation of impetigo among troops, carried out in 1941, nearly half of the strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from the lesions had the ability to inhibit the growth of corynebacteria on solid media. A much smaller proportion of strains from other superficial lesions and from nose and throat swabs had this ability, and strains from deep suppurative lesions were uniformly negative.

Three-quarters of Staph. aureus strains isolated from schoolchildren with impetigo in Lancashire in 1953 and early 1954 were of one variety, which could be denned by its susceptibility to typing phages (‘type 71’).

Nearly 90 % of ‘type 71’ staphylococci, and very few others, produced a narrow, sharp zone of inhibition of Corynebacterium diphtheriae mitis on solid media.

A small number of other staphylococci, mainly non-typable or unclassifiable strains, produced a wider, hazy zone of inhibition.

The majority of the impetigo staphylococci were penicillin-resistant, and most of the resistant strains were members of ‘type 71’. However, ‘type 71’ gave rise to only a small proportion of the penicillin-resistant hospital infections occurring in the same district at the same time.

Three-quarters of the Str. pyogenes strains from impetigo lesions belonged to one of two groups of closely related serological types, one of which was rarely encountered in other situations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , December 1955 , pp. 458 - 473
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1955

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