[Epidemiology of Streptococcus pyogenes infections in developing countries]

Group A streptococcal (GAS) infections are frequent in developing countries but the epidemiology is incompletely known. In 2005, 90 % of symptomatic pharyngitis, 96 % of invasive diseases and 97 % of deaths due to GAS were observed in these countries. Clinical features of GAS invasive infections are identical to those reported in developed countries, but frequency and mortality are higher, as is the number of the different emm types involved. In the world, from 15.6 to 19.6 millions of persons are affected by rheumatic heart disease (282,000 new cases and 233,000-468,000 deaths per year). Incidence of acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis varies with time and location: in 2005, 472,000 new cases have been reported in the world (83 % in a developing country). World Heart Federation recently aimed at reducing the burden of rheumatic heart diseases by 25 % among < 25 years persons in 2025.