Extremely High Prevalence of Erythromycin Resistance of Group A Beta Hemolytic Streptococci in Mashhad (Iran)

Erythromycin has been the classic drug of choice for streptococcal pharyngitis in case of allergy to penicillin. to determine the resistance rate of group a beta hemolytic streptococci (gabhs) to erythro­mycin in mashhad (population 2,500,000), we performed a biphasic research, composed of two retrospective (april 1998- march 1999 and april 2003-march 2005) and a prospective studies. in the first part, we collected gabhs positive cultures and their (disk diffusion) antibiograms from three medical diagnosis laboratories in mashhad. in the second phase, in april 2005, throat cultures were taken from 204 elementary, high school and college students; antibiograms were done by both disk diffusion and e-test.