Streptococcus milleri group bacteraemia in North Yorkshire, England (1989-2000).

Background & Objectives: Though carriage and local infection with organisms of the Streptococcus milleri group (SMG) are regular in clinical practice, bacteraemia is infrequent in man. The objective of the present study was to give an account of our experience with the SMG bacteraemia over a period of 12 yr in North Yorkshire.

Methods: The laboratory and clinical records of all clinically significant cases of SMG bacteraemia in our district general hospital catchment (combined population 260,000) were reviewed for the 12 yr period from 1989 to 2000.

Changing incidence of detected streptococcal bacteraemia in North Yorkshire, England.

Background & Objectives: Streptococcal bacteraemia remains a major and challenging clinical problem throughout the world. The epidemiology of these infections appears to be changing. In the present study we analysed the data collected over a period of 20 yr (1978-1999) to throw light on this.

Report of unusual clinical appearance in bacteraemia with nonhaemolytic M-type 58 Streptococcus pyogenes.

Background & Objectives: The occurrence of haemolytic colonies on blood agar often provides the starting point for the laboratory diagnosis of pyogenic streptococci, while non-haemolytic variants could pass unrecognised, leading to a failure of diagnosis. We report the details of two epidemiologically unrelated patients with bacteraemia featuring M-type 58 Streptococcus pyogenes, a seemingly rare cause of human infection in the UK, and briefly review previous reports of infection with non-haemolytic strains of this species.

Methods: Case notes of the two patients were reviewed.

Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome: a description of 14 cases from North Yorkshire, UK.

Objective: To analyze the clinical and laboratory features of patients diagnosed with streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (TSS) in North Yorkshire from 1986 to 1999.

Methods: Records of patients with features satisfying the published criteria for streptococcal TSS were reviewed from laboratory and clinical records made at the time and from the hospital case notes. Isolates of streptococci were analyzed for serotype and genes encoding for the production of streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins.