ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: A cohort study of children with pharyngitis aged two to 16 years was conducted to assess the role of microbial and host factors in group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus (GABHS) microbiological treatment failure. METHODS: GABHS-infected children had pharyngeal swabs repeated two to five days after completing a 10-day course of penicillin V. M and T typing, and pulsed field gel electrophoresis were performed on the isolates, and the isolates were evaluated for tolerance. Patient characteristics and clinical features were noted and nasopharyngeal swabs for respiratory viruses were taken at enrolment. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Of 286 patients enrolled, 248 (87%) could be evaluated. GABHS was cultured from 104 patients (41.9%), of whom 33 (33.7%) had microbiological treatment failures on follow-up. Although there was a trend toward failure for younger children (mean 6.5+/-2.4 years versus 7.3+/-2.4 years, P=0.07) and M type 12 (24% versus 10%, P=0.08), no factors were associated with treatment failure.
ABSTRACT
The importance of enterococci as a nosocomial etiologic agent is well documented; however, enterococci are also capable of causing a variety of community-acquired infections. Vancomycin resistance in a clinical Enterococcus isolate was first reported in 1986, and since then vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have been reported world-wide. This report describes a case of E. faecium with the VanA phenotype, isolated from meningitis in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Two E. faecium strains were isolated. One strain showed VanA phenotype, and the molecular characterization of the VanA gene was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. The other strain was susceptible to vancomycin and teicoplanin. The authors would like to call the attention of the scientific community to this first identification of a VRE case in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
