Attack rates of acute nephritis after type 49 streptococcal infection of the skin and of the respiratory tract.

Prospective studies in a population of American Indian children during an outbreak of acute nephritis associated with the Type 49 Group A streptococcus permitted a comparison of attack rates of renal complications after infection at different sites and at different ages. Acute nephritis or unexplained hematuria developed in 10 of 42 children (23.8%) with Type 49 streptococcal skin infection, in 2 of 44 (4.5%) with Type 49 throat infection, and in 3 of 16 (18.8%) with simultaneous Type 49 infection at both sites. The higher attack rate of nephritis and hematuria in children with pyoderma indicates that skin lesions played a direct and quantitatively greater role than respiratory infection in the pathogenesis of acute nephritis during this outbreak. Skin infections with the Type 49 strain were followed by evidence of renal complications more often in children younger than 6.5 yr (9 of 21 or 43%) than in older children (1 of 21 or 5%). Attack rates of renal complications after Type 49 skin infection were approximately equal in males and females.