A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON BETA-HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI AND ANTI-STREPTOLYSIN O (ASO) TITRES IN PYOGENIC SKIN INFECTIONS IN CHILDREN WITH A CASE REPORT OF ACUTE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS FOLLOWING REPEATED SKIN INFECTIONS

Hemolytic streptococci were isolated from lesions of 45 of 71 patients with pyogenic skin infections studied in Vellore, S. India: 32 group A strains, 1B, 8C, 4G. ASO titers were elevated in 37 patients including 21 from whom group A streptococci were not recovered, indicating streptococcal infections in 53 or 74.6% of the patients. Among the 32 patients who yielded group A streptococci from skin lesions 12 yielded group A streptococci from nose and 8 from throat cultures. One of the patients included in the study developed acute glomerulonephritis after repeated skin infections. The hemolytic streptococcal isolations and ASO levels in 73 controls in a group of similar age are included for comparison.