Streptococcal throat carriage in a population of nursery and primary school pupils in Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Group A streptococcus (GAS) is a major cause of mortality in man. Regular disease surveillance can be achieved through evaluation of throat carriage. Objectives: To evaluate GAS throat carriage amongst nursery and primary schools pupils in Benin City, Nigeria. Method: This cross sectional study was carried out between September and November 2011. A multistage random sampling method was used to recruit the pupils. Throat swabs were obtained for microscopy and Lancefied grouping. Results: 426 pupils were recruited of which 363(85.2) were in primary and 63(14.8%) in nursery schools. The subjects were aged 2 to 15years and 203(47.7%) were males. Of the 426 pupils, 123 (28.9%) had positive throat swabs for β haemolytic streptococcus (βHS). None of the isolate was GAS. The isolates were groups C (50.4%), D (38.2%) and G (11.4%). Conclusion: Although βHS throat carriage rate in this study is high, there was no GAS isolate. This may suggest low prevalence of GAS related diseases in the community.

Keywords

• group a streptococcus; throat carriage; school children