The Ministry of Health issued an alert for the increase in cases of Streptococcus pyogenes

The Ministry of Health of the Nation issued an alert for the disproportionate increase in cases of acute pharyngitis caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes, which caused the death of 16 people in 2023.Through a statement, the Ministry warned about the presence of the bacterium that causes “acute pharyngitis and skin infections such as impetigo, cellulite and scarlet fever”, and in the last year increased by 281% in the country compared to 2019. Also, 2022 had been the year of highest cases in the last three-year period, with 75 total.” During 2023, 118 confirmed cases of invasive infection by Streptococcus Pyogenes were notified to the National Health Surveillance System (SNVS) throughout the country, of which 16 died,” they reported. In that sense, they explained that the Ministry “has been carrying out the surveillance of this event since 2018”, and detailed that “the provinces with the highest number of confirmed cases accumulated in 2023 are Buenos Aires (35), Santa Fe (20), Chubut (10) and Tierra del Fuego (10)”. It should be noted that this occurs in the international context in which on December 8, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that at least five Member States of the European region (France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) had reported an increase in the number of cases of invasive streptococcal disease of group A (Streptococcus pyogenes) and 19 of December 2022 the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) also issued a statement due to an increase in cases registered in Uruguay,” they added. The Ministry also said that the contagion occurs by “close contact with an infected person and can be transmitted through coughing, sneezing or contact with a wound,” and stressed that “the incubation period for the disease varies between 1 and 3 days.”

Original source in Spanish