Streptococcus pyogenes M28 cluster Genome Sequencing. Streptococcus pyogenes serotype M28

Group A ?-haemolytic Streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes or GAS) is the infectious cause of puerperal fever. S. pyogenes is a strictly human pathogen usually found in the skin and throat, and less frequently in the rectum and the female genital tract. GAS of serotype M28 has been associated with recent puerperal sepsis outbreaks, a post-partum pelvic bacterial infection contracted by women after vaginal or abdominal delivery. Between June and November 2010, a concerning rise in the number of puerperal sepsis cases was observed in the New South Wales (NSW) hospital system. Of the GAS isolates recovered from nine patients, emm28.8 GAS were recovered from four of them. To investigate the relatedness of these emm28 isolates, whole genome sequencing was undertaken and the genome sequences compared to that of the emm28.4 reference strain MGAS6180. This study demonstrates the utility of genomic technology for fine scale epidemiological investigation of bacterial infectious disease.

A群β溶血性链球菌（Group A β-haemolytic Streptococcus，即化脓性链球菌（Streptococcus pyogenes），简称GAS）是产褥热的感染性病因。化脓性链球菌是严格的人体致病菌，通常定植于皮肤和咽部，较少见于直肠及女性生殖道。M28血清型GAS与近期的产褥脓毒症暴发相关，该病是女性经阴道分娩或腹部分娩后罹患的产后盆腔细菌感染。2010年6月至11月期间，新南威尔士州（NSW）医院系统内的产褥脓毒症病例数出现了值得关注的上升。从9例患者分离得到的GAS菌株中，有4株为emm28.8型GAS。为探究这些emm28型分离株的亲缘关系，本研究开展了全基因组测序，并将其基因组序列与emm28.4型参考菌株MGAS6180进行比对。本研究证实了基因组技术在细菌性传染病精细化流行病学调查中的应用价值。