Incidence and Effects of Acquisition of the Phage-Encoded ssa Superantigen Gene in Invasive Group A Streptococcus.

ABSTRACT: The acquisition of the phage-encoded superantigen ssa by scarlet fever-associated group A Streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes, GAS) is found in North Asia. Nonetheless, the impact of acquiring ssa by GAS in invasive infections is unclear. This study initially analyzed the prevalence of ssa+ GAS among isolates from sterile tissues and blood. Among 220 isolates in northern Taiwan, the prevalence of ssa+ isolates increased from 1.5% in 2008-2010 to 40% in 2017-2019. Spontaneous mutations in covR/covS, which result in the functional loss of capacity to phosphorylate CovR, are frequently recovered from GAS invasive infection cases. Consistent with this, Phostag western blot results indicated that among the invasive infection isolates stu

SUBMITTER: Chiang-Ni C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8212969 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature