Increase of emm1 isolates among group A Streptococcus strains causing scarlet fever in Shanghai, China

International Journal of Infectious Diseases

卷:98

Jiehao Cai¹  Dechuan Kong²  Mark R. Davies²  Min Chen²  Chi Zhang²  Yuefang Li³  Hao Pan⁴  Mei Zeng⁴  Weilei Yao⁴  Xi Zhang⁴  Mingliang Chen⁴ 

[1] Department of Microbiology, Shanghai Institutes of Preventive Medicine, Shanghai, PR China;

[2] Department of Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China;

[3] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia;

[4] Department of Microbiology, Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, PR China;

关键词: Scarlet fever;    emm1;    Group A Streptococcus;    Antibiotic resistance;    Pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE);    Whole-genome sequencing;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Objective: Scarlet fever epidemics caused by group A Streptococcus (GAS) have been ongoing in China since 2011. However, limited data are available on the dynamic molecular characterizations of the epidemic strains. Method: Epidemiological data of scarlet fever in Shanghai were obtained from the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Surveillance System. Throat swabs of patients with scarlet fever and asymptomatic school-age children were cultured. Illumina sequencing was performed on 39emm1 isolates. Results: The annual incidence of scarlet fever was 7.5–19.4/100,000 persons in Shanghai during 2011–2015, with an average GAS carriage rate being 7.6% in school-age children. The proportion ofemm1 GAS strains increased from 3.8% in 2011 to 48.6% in 2014; they harbored a superantigen profile similar to emm12 isolates, except for the speA gene. Two predominant clones, SH001-emm12, and SH002-emm1, circulated in 66.9% of scarlet fever cases and 44.8% of carriers. Genomic analysis showed emm1 isolates throughout China constituted distinct clades, enriched by the presence of mobile genetic elements carrying the multidrug-resistant determinants ermB and tetM and virulence genes speA, speC, and spd1. Conclusion: A significant increase in the proportion ofemm1 strains occurred in the GAS population, causing scarlet fever in China. Ongoing surveillance is warranted to monitor the dynamic changes of GAS clones.

【 授权许可】

Unknown