Epidemiology and molecular characterization of macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pyogenes in Taiwan

Abstract

Our multicenter nationwide surveillance data indicated that erythromycin (ERY) resistance among group A Streptococcus (GAS) isolates in Taiwan declined from 53.1% in 1998 and 2000 to 14.6% in 2002 and 2004 and 10.7% in 2006 to 2010 (P<0.01). The present study aimed to assess the epidemiology of GAS in Taiwan and identify factors associated with ERY resistance. All 127 ERY-resistant (ERYr) isolates and 128 randomly selected ERY-susceptible (ERY s) isolates recovered from 1998 to 2010 were emm typed. ERY r isolates were also characterized by ERY resistance phenotype and mechanisms and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Multilocus sequence typing was performed on selected ERYr isolates. The predominant emm types in ERYr isolates were emm22 (n = 33, 26.0%), emm12 (n = 24, 18.9%), emm4 (n = 21, 16.5%), and emm106 (n = 15, 11.8%). In ERYs isolates, emm12 (n = 27, 21.9%), emm1 (n = 18, 14.1%), emm106 (n = 16, 12.5%), and emm11 (n = 9, 7.1%) predominated. The most common ERY resistance phenotype was theMphenotype (resistant to macrolides) (70.9%), with all but one isolate carrying mef(A), followed by the constitutive macrolide-lincosamide- streptogramin B resistance (cMLSB) phenotype (26.8%), with isolates carrying erm(B) or erm(TR). ERYr isolates of the emm12-sequence type 36 (ST36) lineage with the cMLSB phenotype were mostly present before 2004, while those of the emm22-ST46 lineage with theMphenotype predominated in later years. Recovery from respiratory (throat swab) specimens was an independent factor associated with ERY resistance. emm1 and emm11 GAS isolates were significantly associated with ERYs, while emm22 was detected only in ERYr GAS. In addition, emm106 isolates were prevalent among the abscess/pus isolates, whereas emm12 isolates were strongly associated with a respiratory (throat) origin. In addition to identifying factors associated with ERY resistance in GAS, our study provides helpful information on the changing GAS epidemiology in Taiwan. Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.