[An explosive outbreak of respiratory streptococcal infection with a droplet transmission mechanism].

The data obtained in the study of an explosive outbreak of acute respiratory diseases, tonsillitis and scarlet fever in one of schools in Moscow have made it possible to exclude the alimentary mechanism of its development and to demonstrate the role of the droplet mechanism of transmission in the appearance of its outbreak. The epidemiological analysis of the outbreak has permitted the formulation of the hypothesis on the conditions of the formation and spread of the epidemic variant of the infective agent; this hypothesis corresponds to the available data in literature on the qualitative changes of the infective agent in the course of the epidemic process. The study has shown that the prophylaxis of the explosive outbreaks of respiratory streptococcal infections must be ensured by the system of epidemiological surveillance with timely intervention into the epidemiological process at its early stages.