Endemic leg ulcers caused by Corynebacterium pyogenes in Thailand

Corynebacterium pyogenes was isolated from leg ulcers found in 495 school children during an epidemic in Thailand in 1979 and 1980. Although C. pyogenes is frequently isolated from cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats, and less frequently from rabbits and guinea pigs, it rarely infects humans, where respiratory infections far outweigh skin infections. Cutaneous infections usually begin with a superficial abscess, then a frostbite-like lesion, followed by ulceration and even gangrene.