ACUTE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS FOLLOWING SKIN INFECTION DUE TO STREPTOCOCCI OF M-TYPE 2

Group-A streptococci with the M-antigen of type 2 are commonly associated with acute glomerulonephritis following skin infection in Alabama. These streptococci have not been previously reported to be associated with either impetigo or nephritis. They differ from the usual M-type 2 organism in that they have the T-agglutination pattern 25/Imp.19, but are not agglutinated by the type-2 T-antiserum. They formed the largest single group among streptococci isolated from the skin lesions of cases of acute glomerulonephritis, but were not found in the skin lesions of children from families in which no case of glomerulonephritis had occurred. Type 49, a strain now widely associated with nephritis, is the second most common cause of nephritis following skin infection in Alabama.