Prevalence of group A β-haemolytic Streptococcus among children with pharyngitis in Jimma town, Southwest Ethiopia

BackgroundGroup A Streptococcus (GAS) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among children and responsible for 20–30% of bacterial pharyngitis.ObjectiveDetermining prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and clinical predictors of GAS among children with pharyngitis.MethodA cross sectional study was conducted on 355 children with pharyngitis attended in Health Centers of Jimma town from May 8 to December 31, 2013. Demographic and clinical data were collected by questionnaire. Throat swabs were collected and processed with the standard microbiological techniques to isolate GAS. The disc diffusion method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression analysis were done by SPSS version 20.ResultsFemales accounted for 57.7% of 355 children with pharyngitis. Sixty-six percent of the children were 5–9 years old giving mean ± SD age of 8.5 ± 2.7 years. The prevalence of GAS was 11.3%. All isolates of GAS were susceptible to penicillin and erythromycin. However, 52.5% were resistant to tetracycline. Absence of cough, tonsillar swelling or exudate and temperature >38 °C were found to be independent predictors for GAS infection among children with pharyngitis (P < 0.05).ConclusionIn this study the prevalence of GAS was relatively low. However, the seasonality of GAS infection might underestimate the prevalence, so that large-scale prospective study in the entire season and in various settings is required. In addition, the clinical variables that are predictor of GAS pharyngitis can be considered for the diagnosis of GAS pharyngitis with further evaluation of its reproducibility in different settings.