[Distribution of T types and emm Genotypes of Streptococcus pyogenes in Jinju, 2004.].
BACKGROUND
T antigens and emm genotypes are useful markers for epidemiologic investigation of Streptococcus pyogenes infections. Epidemiologic studies of S. pyogenes were performed on a large scale in Jinju. This was the third study being carried out in the same area over the past 10 years.


METHODS
A total of 328 S. pyogenes were isolated from throat cultures obtained from asymptomatic schoolchildren in the Jinju area in 2004. T typing was performed by a slide agglutination, and emm genotyping by PCR and DNA sequencing. We compared the results of this study with those of the previous ones performed in 1995 and 2002.


RESULTS
T5/27/44 were the most prevalent, accounting for 29.6% of all isolates; T12 and T6 were 13.4% and 10.7%, respectively, and T nontypeable was 3.4%. The emm44/61 type was the most prevalent accounting for 29.3%, and emm6 and emm1 were 11.6% and 9.8%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Newly recognized T5/27/44 and emm44/61 were the most prevalent, accounting for about 30% of all isolates, while T12 and emm12 were significantly decreased in 2004 compared to the results of previous years. This study demonstrated divergent features of S. pyogenes epidemiology over the past 10 years in the Jinju area.