The prevalence of group A streptococcal throat carriage in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
The aim of this study was to establish the carrier rate of group A beta haemolytic streptococci in school children in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. One thousand and two randomly selected school children aged 5-7 years had their throats swabbed twice for both culture and direct antigen detection of group A streptococci. One hundred and fourteen children (11.3%) had both a positive antigen and culture test, while 216 (21.6%) had antigen-positive tests only and 16 (1.5%) had a positive culture only. Thus, the combination of culture and antigen detection revealed a carrier rate of 35.4% in the children examined. We conclude that in an affluent but isolated desert area on the Tropic of Cancer, group A streptococcal carriage rate is high. Antigen detection is superior to culture techniques in asymptomatic carrier studies.
Dawson
K P
KP
Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University.
Ameen
A S
AS
Nsanze
H
H
Bin-Othman
S
S
Mustafa
N
N
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014479:United Arab Emirates / Q000453:epidemiology
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial