Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 58 (5), 272-275, 2005
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Original Article
Increased Expression of the ska Gene in emm49-Genotyped Streptococcus pyogenes Strains Isolated from Patients with Severe Invasive Streptococcal Infections
Tadayoshi Ikebe, Miyoko Endoh1 and Haruo Watanabe*
Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640 and 1Department of Bacteriology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health, Tokyo 169-0073, Japan
(Received April 28, 2005. Accepted June 14, 2005)
*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Department of Bacteriology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan. Tel: +81-3-5285-1111, Fax: +81-3-5285-1171, E-mail: haruwata@nih.go.jp
SUMMARY: Since 2000, emm49-genotyped Streptococcus pyogenes strains have been isolated from patients with severe invasive group A streptococcal infections in Japan, although they had not been isolated before 1999. We compare the characteristics of these strains with those of strains isolated from patients with non-invasive infections. SmaI-digested pulsed-field gel electrophoresis profiles of the isolates were almost indistinguishable between these groups, however, we found that ska (streptokinase gene) transcriptional levels in the strains isolated from patients with severe invasive infections were significantly higher than those in non-invasive infections.