Sepsis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Sepsis, including details on septicemia, diagnosis, symptoms, treatment.

Involvement of streptococcal mitogenic exotoxin Z in streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

Yang L, Thomas M, Woodhouse A, Martin D, Fraser JD, Proft T

Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.

We report a nonfatal case of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) caused by a Streptococcus pyogenes emm118 strain encoding a novel variant of streptococcal mitogenic exotoxin Z (SMEZ-34). This variant was responsible for the major mitogenic activity in the cell culture supernatant. Patient sera showed seroconversion toward SMEZ, implying a role for this toxin in STSS.

Published 7 July 2005 in J Clin Microbiol, 43(7): 3570-3.
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