Prospective Surveillance of Streptococcal Sore Throat in a Tropical Country

Abstract

GAS culture-positive sore throat was more common than expected. Group C and group G streptococci were frequently isolated in throat cultures, although their contribution to pharyngeal infection is not clear. The molecular epidemiology of pharyngeal GAS in our study differed greatly from that in industrialized nations and this has implications for GAS vaccine clinical research in Fiji and other tropical developing countries.