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Volume 22, Number 2—February 2016

Research

Invasive Group A Streptococcus Infection among Children, Rural Kenya

Anna C. SealeComments to Author , Mark R. Davies, Kirimi Anampiu, Susan C. Morpeth, Sammy Nyongesa, Salim Mwarumba, Pierre R. Smeesters, Androulla Efstratiou, Rosylene Karugutu, Neema Mturi, Thomas N. Williams, J. Anthony G. Scott, Samuel Kariuki, Gordon Dougan, and James A. Berkley
Author affiliations: KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya (A.C. Seale, K. Anampiu, S.C. Morpeth, S. Nyongesa, S. Mwarumba, N. Mturi, T.N. Williams, J.A.G. Scott, J.A. Berkley); University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (A.C. Seale, J.A. Berkley); University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Parkville, Victoria, Australia (M.R. Davies); University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (M.R. Davies); The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK (M.R. Davies, S. Kariuki, G. Dougan); London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK (S.C. Morpeth, J.A.G. Scott); Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (P.R. Smeesters); University of Melbourne, Melbourne (P.R. Smeesters); Public Health England, London (A. Efstratiou); Imperial College, London (A. Efstratiou, T.N. Williams); The Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya (R. Karugutu, S. Kariuki)

Main Article

Table 1

Characteristics of children with GAS disease admitted to Kilifi County Hospital, Kenya, 1998–2011*

Characteristic All GAS disease, n = 369, no. (%) Definite invasive GAS disease, n = 152, no. (%) Probable invasive GAS disease, n = 217, no. (%)
Age
0–6 d 33 (8.9) 13 (8.6) 20 (9.2)
7–28 d 61 (16.5) 38 (25.0) 23 (10.6)
29–59 d 17 (4.6) 12 (7.9) 5 (2.3)
60 d–1 y 63 (17.1) 40 (26.3) 23 (10.6)
>1 and <5 y 125 (33.9) 41 (27.0) 84 (38.7)
5–12 y
 70 (19.0)
 8 (5.3)
 62 (28.6)
Sex
M 219 (59.3) 84 (55.3) 135 (62.2)
F
 150 (40.7)
 68 (44.7)
 82 (37.8)
Severe acute malnutrition
No 294 (79.7) 106 (69.7) 188 (86.6)
Yes (wasting) 47 (12.7) 30 (19.7) 17 (7.8)
Yes (kwashiorkor) 11 (3.0) 9 (5.9) 2 (0.9)
Not known
 17 (4.6)
 7 (4.6)
 10 (4.6)
Malaria (positive slide result)
No 313 (84.8) 123 (80.9) 190 (87.6)
Yes
 56 (15.2)
 29 (19.1)
 27 (12.4)
HIV infection
No 209 (56.6) 116 (76.3) 93 (42.9)
Yes 28 (7.6) 24 (15.8) 4 (1.8)
Not known
 132 (35.8)
 12 (7.9)
 120 (55.3)
Sickle cell disease
No 136 (36.9) 95 (62.5) 41 (18.9)
Sickle cell trait 14 (3.8) 9 (5.9) 5 (2.3)
Sickle cell disease 3 (0.8) 1 (0.7) 2 (0.9)
Not known 216 (58.5) 47 (30.9) 169 (77.9)

*Malaria incidence (slide-positive admissions data from Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System) decreased from 28.5 to 3.45 cases per 1,000 person-years during 1999–2007. HIV prevalence was 4.9% (routine antenatal screening, 2004–2007) with no evidence of a temporal trend. Sickle cell disease prevalence among infants in the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System (2006–2009) was 15% for genotypes HbAS and 1% with HbSS (11). Severe acute malnutrition is referenced against World Health Organization population standards (Technical Appendix Table 1). GAS, group A Streptococcus.

Main Article

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Page created: January 14, 2016
Page updated: January 14, 2016
Page reviewed: January 14, 2016
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