Scientists sequence genome of strep throat, scarlet fever...( Scientists have completed sequenci...)

Scientists have completed sequencing the genome of Streptococcus pyogenes, a bacterium that causes a wide variety of human diseases. The "rap sheet" on this organism, also known as group A streptococci or GAS, stretches long: GAS infection can lead to strep throat, scarlet fever, the skin infection impetigo, pneumonia, acute kidney inflammation, toxic shock syndrome, blood "poisoning," acute rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease, and the flesh-eating disease known as necrotizing fasciitis.

"This exceptionally virulent organism is difficult to study because it infects only humans and very few animal models of group A strep diseases exist," says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). "We need to know more about how group A strep interact with humans to cause so many different illnesses. The genetic sequence should shed light on these questions and pave the way for better treatment and prevention."

"Infection with this bacterium occurs worldwide, and acute rheumatic fever is the major cause of heart disease in children of developing countries," says Fran Rubin, Ph.D., a respiratory diseases program officer at NIAID. "This is one reason why sequencing this organism is so critical." Several million cases of strep throat and impetigo occur each year in the United States. In addition, in 1999 GAS infection led to 9,400 more serious illnesses such as toxic shock syndrome or necrotizing fasciitis in the United States. These invasive diseases occur when GAS get into parts of the body where bacteria are not usually found, such as the blood and muscles.

The sequencing project, supported by NIAID, was carried out by researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Their findings appear in the April 10 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The single, circular chromosome containing the bacterium's genetic material is more than 1.8 millio
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Contact: Jeff Minerd
jminerd@niaid.nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
9-Apr-2001