Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 24, 1993 TAG: 9306240064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium
A study has found that adult disease caused by this germ, while still rare, has nearly doubled in the Atlanta area in recent years, killing 30 adults in a two-year period.
The microbe, called group B streptococcus, is usually considered mostly a disease of newborns and pregnant women. Among babies, it can cause life-threatening meningitis, while women giving birth sometimes get easily treatable uterine infections.
In the latest study, researchers found that the bacteria are just as common in adults as in babies. In nonpregnant grown-ups, they can cause infection of the skin, bones, blood, lungs and the lining of the abdomen, as well as other parts of the body.
The latest statistics were gathered in 1989 and 1990. The researchers found there were 4.4 cases of group B strep disease annually per 100,000 adults. A similar survey six years earlier found 2.4 cases per 100,000.
The study was conducted by Dr. Monica M. Farley of Emory University and published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
The work was based on a review of all cases of group B strep disease in 35 hospitals in the Atlanta area. During the two-year period, there were 424 cases resulting in 45 deaths, 30 of them nonpregnant adults.
Nearly all of the adult victims had other serious diseases, including diabetes, strokes, kidney failure and cancer.
Just why this form of bacteria might be increasing is unclear. However, an editorial in the journal theorized the infection is increasing because people weakened by other diseases are living longer.
by CNB