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Determination of emm type for Streptococcus pyogenes by PCR

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*Accredited by the Standards Council of Canada to Laboratory no. 594 (ISO/IEC 17025)

Requisition Forms

Reference Details

Description:

The determination of emm type for Streptococcus pyogenes.

Test Category:
Genotyping
Pathogen:
Streptococcus pyogenes
Illnesses and Diseases:
  • Bacteraemia
  • Invasive Group A Streptococcal Disease
  • Skin and soft tissue infections
  • Necrotizing fasciitis
  • Toxic shock syndrome
Specimen:

Pure culture, presumptively identified as S. pyogenes, isolated from a normally sterile site (blood, CSF, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid, peritoneal fluid, deep tissue specimen, bone or joint fluid excluding middle ear and superficial wound aspirates).

Specimens may be subject to rejection if they are not the appropriate sample type, a duplicate sample**, have insufficient volume, are not accompanied by relevant patient information, not on the correct requisition, or requisition is absent.

Collection Method:

Isolate provided on culture medium.

Specimen Processing, Storage and Shipping:

Send as growth on culture medium or on a swab in transport medium.  Chocolate or charcoal media are recommended.  Cultures can be also shipped frozen on dry ice. 

Transportation of Dangerous Goods:

Shipping of specimens shall be done by a TDG certified individual in accordance with TDG regulations. For additional information regarding classification of specimens for the purposes of shipping, consult either Part 2 Appendix 3 of the TDG Regulations or section 3.6.2 of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations as applicable.

 

Patient Criteria:

Invasive disease due to Streptococcus pyogenes.

Accompanying Documentation:

Completed Isolate Submission Requisition for Streptococcus form including sender lab name, address, telephone number and email address. Patient age or date of birth, sex, culture reference number, clinical source, date collected and test requested. Outbreak or specimens requiring expedited testing or phylogenetic analysis must be indicated as such on the requisition. The above information must be sent as a hardcopy with the shipment, and an excel file may be sent to nml.strepsti-lnm.strepits@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

Comments:

Non-invasive isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes that are related to outbreak investigations may be submitted.

**Duplicate samples should not be submitted without prior consent as they may not be processed. Isolates collected from the same patient within 3 weeks are considered duplicates.

Methods and Interpretation of Results:

*emm typing using whole genome sequencing (primary) (3,4)

emm typing using polymerase chain reaction (secondary) (1)

Turnaround Time:

30 calendar days.

Outbreak associated or urgent isolates will be granted priority status and completed as soon as possible.

***Turn around times may not be guaranteed when isolates are submitted in large batches.

Contact:
Phone #: Strep: 204-789-7658; STI: 204-784-5995
Fax: 204-789-2140
References:
  1. Beall, Bernard, Gherardi, G., Lovgren, M., Facklam R.R., Forwick B.A. and Tyrrell, G.J. emm and sof gene sequence variation in relation to serological typing of opacity-factor-positive group A streptococci. Microbiology 2000;146:1195-1209.
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Streptococcus Laboratory.  Streptococcus Laboratory Protocols. Available at http://www.cdc.gov./ncidod/biotech/strep/protocols.htm.
  3. Athey TBT, Teatero S, Li A, Marchand-Austin A, Beall BW, Fittipaldi N. Deriving group A streptococcus typing information from short-read whole-genome sequencing data. J Clin Microbiol. 2014;52(6):1871–1876.
  4. Kapatai G, Coelho J, Platt S, Chalker VJ. Whole genome sequencing of group A streptococcus: development and evaluation of an automated pipeline for emm gene typing. PeerJ. 2017;5:e3226.