Streptococcal adherence to pharyngeal cells of children with acute rheumatic fever.
The adherence of strains of group A Streptococcus to pharyngeal cells from Egyptian children with acute rheumatic fever (RF) was examined. Nine RF-associated and eight unassociated streptococcal strains were tested in vitro for adherence to pharyngeal cells from 11 patients with acute RF and eight normal subjects. RF-associated streptococcal strains adhered more avidly to pharyngeal cells of patients with acute RF (mean, 11.8 bacteria/cell) than did unassociated strains (mean, 5.9 bacteria/cell; P less than 0.05). The difference in mean adherence could be attributed to certain RF-associated strains. There was no significant difference in adherence when pharyngeal cells from controls were used. Furthermore, one RF-associated streptococcal strain was found to adhere considerably more avidly to pharyngeal cells of patients with RF than to those of controls.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D012213:Rheumatic Fever / Q000382:microbiology*; D012214:Rheumatic Heart Disease / Q000382:microbiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014774:Virulence