Group A -hemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis has been studied very widely in area of pediatrics, because of its severe sequelae, hat is, acute rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis. Throat culture is gold standard to confim group A
streptococcal
(GAS) pharyngitis. Antistreptolysin-O (ASO) test is also performed to investigate the immune state of GAS pharyngitis. In this study, the carrier rate of -hemolytic streptococci(BHS) was evaluated on 798 chidren of three elementary schools
located
in
Kangweondo on March and April, 1992. The carriers of BHS were 108(13.5%) of which male were 63(14.1%), female 45(12.8%) respectively. The carrier rate of
BHS was high in 12(20.3%) and 11(19.4%) year old children compared to 2.4% in 13 year old. The carrier rate was ranged from 13.0% to 15.8% in three schools. Of 108 strains, 79(73.2%) were identified as group A, 14(13.0%) as group G, 6(5.6%) as
group
B,3(2.9%) as group C, and 6 as non-group A, B, C, G respectively. The demography of positive rate of GAG showed similar patterm to the one of BHG. The carriers of GAS were 79(9.9%) of whlch male were 49(11.1%), female 30(8.5%) respectively. ASO
of
85
children haboring BHS were screened by Rapidia- ASO(Fujirebio, Japan). The positive rate of ASO was 79.4% in GAS cases, 65% in non-GAS cases respectively. This result means that ASO is not sufficient to differentiate true intection from carrier
and
can
be raised in non-GAS cases.
This study will help clinician know present bacteriologic and epidemiologic knowledge of BHS in Korean children.
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