Group A Beta-Hemolytic Streptococcal Bacteremia—Colorado, 1989

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
From January through August 1989, group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus (GABHS) was isolated from blood cultures obtained from 19 patients who had been admitted to a hospital in metropolitan Denver, Colorado. In comparison, this organism was cultured from blood from eight patients in 1988 and three in 1987 at this hospital. The Colorado Department of Health was notified of this increase, and in August, the department reviewed these patients' medical charts to describe GABHS bacteremia cases and to determine whether they represented community-acquired disease, nosocomial acquisition, or laboratory artifact. Patients ranged in age from 3 weeks to 96 years (median: 67 years); 12 were male. All but one were residents of Colorado when hospitalized; 16 patients lived in the Denver metropolitan area. Twelve patients were admitted from private residences and four from nursing homes; three were transferred from acute- or extended-care facilities. For 13 patients, a blood specimen was obtained within

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: