ARCANOBACTERIUM-HAEMOLYTICUM AND STREPTOCOCCAL PHARYNGITIS

Arcanobacterium haemolyticum was recovered from 0.5% of throat culture s of 3,922 patients seeking medical attention because of sore throat. Most of the patients positive for A. haemolyticum were 15-25 years old , and had fever (80%), lymphadenopathy (67%), pharyngeal exudate (69%) or skin rash (23%). In this age group, 2% of the throat cultures prov ed positive for A. haemolyticum. All A. haemolyticum strains were susc eptible to penicillin, erythromycin, cephalexin and clindamycin, but r esistant to trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole. In half of the patients wi th A. haemolyticum it was the only bacterial pathogen isolated, while in the remainder, beta-haemolytic streptococci were also detected. As expected, beta-haemolytic streptococci were much more frequent than A. haemolyticum in the throat cultures.