Streptococcal infections: Emerging trends, clinical spectrum and global prevention effort.

Streptococci represent a diverse group of bacteria that create a wide range of clinical manifestations from suppurative skin and soft tissue infections, pharyngotonsillitis, and urinary tract infections to more severe infections such as bacteremia, meningitis and toxic shock syndrome. Group A streptococci also create immune mediated diseases, including acute rheumatic fever, rheumatic carditis, and poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis. Worldwide, these organisms are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. While many species remain sensitive to penicillin, antibiotic resistance for some streptococci continues to rise. Preventive strategies are limited, but there is on-going research on developing safe and effective vaccines to prevent infections due to group A and group B streptococci. In this review, we discuss the emerging trends, clinical manifestations, issues of antibiotic resistance and what steps are used or might be used to prevent infection with these streptococci.