Increased number of sporadic nosocomial group A streptococcal bacteraemias during a community epidemic.

An increased morbidity rate due to Lancefield group A streptococci (GAS) in the Scandinavian countries, beginning late in 1987, led to the present retrospective survey of bacteraemias with GAS in Denmark. Among 242 reported cases from January 1987-December 1989, 94 were found to have been nosocomially acquired, and their occurrence mirrored the pattern of the epidemic with T-type 1 and the seasonal variation of other serotypes in the community. The 27 nosocomial cases from 1988 were studied further. Eighty percent were associated with postoperative wound infection, erysipelas, puerperal or neonatal infection. Of the 52 community-acquired cases in 1988, 80% comprised erysipelas, respiratory tract infection, meningitis, gastrointestinal disease or arthritis. The bacteraemic patients were promptly treated with antibiotics, but the use of penicillin was in some cases delayed because the clinical signs of streptococcal infection were misinterpreted by the attending clinician. Ideally, the nosocomial infections should have been prevented by hygienic measures in the hospitals. When an epidemic situation of this type exists in the community, handwashing routines become vitally important. A warning for epidemics should be extended to the hospital.