M-Antigens Common to Pyoderma and Acute Glomerulonephritis

Abstract

A total of 1,227 strains of group A Streptococcus from skin lesions of patients with pyoderma (including 253 strains from patients with acute glomerulonephritis or the siblings of these patients) were serologically classified. The major nephritogenic serotypes included types 2, 49, and 60. These three serotypes were significantly less common among patients with uncomplicated pyoderma. Strains agglutinated by the 3/13/B3264 complex were most common in the latter group, and over 80% were further classified with M-antisera. Serotypes common to impetigo, but relatively less often found associated with acute glomerulonephritis, included new types 52, 53, 56, 59, and 61. Strains associated with pyoderma clearly formed M-antigens; the success in identification of these strains appears to be a function of the availability of suitable M-antisera that are representative of serotypes not often encountered in acute respiratory infections. The pyoderma-nephritis serotypes of major importance in our own population and in those studied elsewhere clearly differed from major nephritogenic strains found in the throat.