TY - JOUR
T1 - The prevalence of group a streptococcal throat carriage in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
AU - Dawson, K. P.
AU - Ameen, A. S.
AU - Nsanze, H.
AU - Bin-Othman, S.
AU - Mustafa, N.
PY - 1996
Y1 - 1996
N2 - The aim of this study was to establish the carrier rate of group A B haemolytic streptococci in school children in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. One thousand and two randomly selected school children aged 5-7 years had their throats swabbed twice for both culture and direct antigen detection of group A streptococci. One hundred and fourteen children (11.3%) had both a positive antigen and culture test, while 216 (21.6%) had antigen-positive tests only and 16 (1.5%) had a positive culture only. Thus, the combination of culture and antigen detection revealed a carrier rate of 35.4% in the children examined. We conclude that in an affluent but isolated desert area on the Tropic of Cancer, group A streptococcal carriage rate is high. Antigen detection is superior to culture techniques in asymptomatic carrier studies.
AB - The aim of this study was to establish the carrier rate of group A B haemolytic streptococci in school children in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. One thousand and two randomly selected school children aged 5-7 years had their throats swabbed twice for both culture and direct antigen detection of group A streptococci. One hundred and fourteen children (11.3%) had both a positive antigen and culture test, while 216 (21.6%) had antigen-positive tests only and 16 (1.5%) had a positive culture only. Thus, the combination of culture and antigen detection revealed a carrier rate of 35.4% in the children examined. We conclude that in an affluent but isolated desert area on the Tropic of Cancer, group A streptococcal carriage rate is high. Antigen detection is superior to culture techniques in asymptomatic carrier studies.
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U2 - 10.1080/02724936.1996.11747814
DO - 10.1080/02724936.1996.11747814
M3 - Article
C2 - 8790675
AN - SCOPUS:0029988930
SN - 0272-4936
VL - 16
SP - 123
EP - 127
JO - Annals of Tropical Paediatrics
JF - Annals of Tropical Paediatrics
IS - 2
ER -