Study of antibody response to 4 streptococcal antigens in rheumatic fever and Kawasaki disease with or without cardiovascular lesions.

Patients with rheumatic fever (RF) and Kawasaki disease (MCLS) were divided into two groups, one with and the other without cardiovascular lesions, and their sera were examined for antibodies to 4 streptococcal antigens: anti-streptococcal polysaccharide (ASP), anti-deoxyribonuclease B (ADN-B), anti-streptolysin O (ASO) and anti-streptokinase (ASK) in order to clarify the relationship between group A streptococci and these two diseases. In RF the frequency of positive levels of ASP at its early stage was lower than those of the other 3 antibodies, but the ASP titer tended to persist at elevated levels. The frequency of ADN-B in patients with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) was higher than that in those without RHD, but with regard to the other antibodies no difference was found between the two. Of the 4 antibodies the frequency of at least one positive level was 100% in all the sera of RF patients within 3 months from onset. The differences in the frequencies of positive levels of all 4 antibodies in both MCLS and the controls did not prove to be significant. The frequencies of ASP, ADN-B and ASO in the sera of patients without cardiovascular lesions tended to be slightly higher than those in patients with cardiovascular lesions.