Bacteriology of sore throats in a Sudanese population

One hundred and eighty-six throat swabs were collected from patients with sore throats and 164 throat swabs were collected from healthy controls. All swabs were investigated bacteriologically, and sensitivity tests were performed on all pathogenic isolates. Group A Streptococcus pyogenes was the predominant pathogenic organism (24.7%) and Proteus vulgaris the least predominant organism (0.5%) isolated from patients with sore throats. Streptococcus pyogenes infection was found to be most common among school children between the ages of 9 and 12 (61.5%). The pathogenic organisms were found to be sensitive to erythromycin (92.6%).