The prevalence of group A streptococcal throat carriage in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

SummaryThe aim of this study was to establish the carrier rate of group A β haemolytic streptococci in school children in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. One thousand and two randomly selected school children aged 5–7 years had their throats swabbed twice for both culture and direct antigen detection of group A streptococci. One hundred and fourteen children (11.3%) had both a positive antigen and culture test, while 216 (21.6%) had antigen-positive tests only and 16 (1.5%) had a positive culture only. Thus, the combination of culture and antigen detection revealed a carrier rate of 35.4% in the children examined. We conclude that in an affluent but isolated desert area on the Tropic of Cancer, group A streptococcal carriage rate is high. Antigen detection is superior to culture techniques in asymptomatic carrier studies.