Sustained increase of paediatric invasive Streptococcus pyogenes infections dominated by M1UK and diverse emm12 isolates, Portugal, September 2022 to May 2023

• Author(s): Gouveia, Catarina ; Bajanca-Lavado, Maria Paula ; Mamede, Rafael ; Araújo Carvalho, Ana ; Rodrigues, Fernanda ; Cristino, José Melo ; Ramirez, Mário ; Friães, Ana
• Date: 2023
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/64688
• Origin: Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
• Subject(s): M1UK; Streptococcus pyogenes; Emm type; Epidemiology; Group A streptococcus; Paediatric infections; Whole genome sequencing
• Document Type: Journal article
• Language: English
• Contributor(s): Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto da ULisboa

Description

Since autumn 2022, observed numbers of paediatric invasive group A Streptococcus infections in Portugal (n = 89) were higher than in pre-COVID-19 seasons. Between September 2022 and May 2023, the dominant diagnoses were pneumonia (25/79), mostly with empyema (20/25), and sepsis (22/79). A number of cases required admission to intensive care (27/79) and surgery (35/79), and the case fatality rate was 5.1% (4/79). Genomic sequencing (n = 55) revealed multiple genetic lineages, dominated by the M1UK sublineage (26/55) and more diverse emm12 isolates (12/55).