Invasive Group A Strep Infections Doubled From 2013 To 2022, Study Finds

NBC News (4/7, Bendix) reports a study published Monday in JAMA found that “the number of invasive group A strep infections more than doubled from 2013 to 2022.” Prior to that, “rates of invasive strep had been stable for 17 years.” The study calls for “accelerated efforts” to prevent and control infections. Possible explanations for the increase in cases in recent years are rising rates of diabetes and obesity that compromise immune systems; growing cases among people who inject drugs or experience homelessness; and that new strains of group A “could create new opportunities for infection” and might be “driving resistance to antibiotics.” MedPage Today (4/7, Haelle) reports that “invasive group A strep infections increased from 3.6 per 100,000 people in 2013 to 8.2 per 100,000 people in 2022.” The relative increase over this time period “was greatest among adults ages 18 to 64 years – from 3.2 to 8.7 per 100,000 people, and the percentage of adult patients with one or more underlying conditions – including obesity (36.2%), smoking (33.4%), diabetes (29.9%), and acute skin breakdown (28.7%) – increased from 86.6% in 2013 to 93% in 2022.” Notably, pediatric infections “dropped during the pandemic, by 73% from 2.0 per 100,000 in 2019 to 0.6 per 100,000 in 2021, but no other trends emerged.”