Prevalence of Asymptomatic Streptococcus pyogenes Carriage and Antibiotic Susceptibility among Schoolchildren in Baghdad, Iraq
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Streptococcus pyogenes is a Gram-positive bacterium that causes infectious illnesses, such as rheumatic fever, glomerulonephritis, pharyngitis, and impetigo.This study is a cross-sectional assessment of the frequency of asymptomatic S. pyogenes carriage among schoolchildren in Baghdad, Iraq, and evaluates its antibiotic susceptibility patterns.From November 2022 to April 2023, throat swabs were obtained from 100 randomly selected children with acute pharyngo-tonsillitis.The samples were tested for Group A Streptococcus pyogenes (GAS) using standard microbiological methods, and antibiotic sensitivity assay was performed for vancomycin, tetracycline, penicillin, ampicillin, and azithromycin.Also, the levels of anti-streptolysin-O (ASO) were determined.The results revealed that 24% of the specimens tested positive for GAS, with a higher prevalence among males (26.32%) compared to females (20.93%), although no significant difference (p > 0.001).Age-related results indicated that younger children, particularly those under 5 years old, exhibited higher carriage rates.The prevalence was also significantly higher in urban children (50%) than in rural areas (13.89%).Antibiotic susceptibility testing demonstrated that 85% of bacterial isolates were responsive to vancomycin, while 90% were susceptible to penicillin and ampicillin.Tetracycline showed 75% sensitivity, and azithromycin had the lowest sensitivity at 40%.These findings underscore the importance of monitoring antibiotic resistance and ensuring appropriate treatment, particularly in urban settings where the prevalence of GAS infections is higher.This study highlights the need for ongoing surveillance of asymptomatic GAS carriage among schoolchildren to prevent potential outbreaks and complications.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".