Table 1. Comparison of characteristics of persons with emm49 cases and non-emm49 cases, four ABCs sites (CA, CO, OR and MD), 2015–2019.

	emm49 no. (%)	Non-emm49 no. (%)	P value*
Total iGAS cases	603	4,286
Male	383 (63.5)	2,497 (58.3)	0.0143
Age group in years
<18	7 (1.2)	249 (5.8)	<0.0001
18–34	113 (18.7)	662 (15.5)	0.0381
35–49	145 (24.1)	871 (20.3)	0.0348
50–64	229 (38.0)	1,193 (27.8)	<0.0001
65 and older	109 (18.1)	1,311 (30.6)	<0.0001
Outcome
ICU admission	221 (36.7)	1,671 (39.0)	0.2699
Death	38 (6.3)	364 (8.5)	0.0667
Clinical syndrome‡
Cellulitis	271 (44.9)	1,894 (44.2)	0.7279
Bacteremia without focus	167 (27.7)	914 (21.3)	0.0004
Septic shock	80 (13.3)	753 (17.6)	0.0085
Pneumonia	62 (10.3%)	550 (12.8)	0.0764
Abscess	48 (8.0)	337 (7.9)	0.9337
Osteomyelitis	24 (4.0)	257 (6.0)	0.0464
Necrotizing fasciitis	24 (4.0)	210 (4.9)	0.3220
Endocarditis	14 (2.3)	83 (1.9)	0.5254
Meningitis	4 (0.7)	30 (0.7)	0.2075†
Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome	2 (0.3)	72 (1.7)	0.0030†
Underlying conditions or risk factors$
History of penetrating or blunt trauma	134 (22.2)	948 (22.1)	0.9542
Diabetes	116 (19.2)	1,117 (26.1)	0.0003
Alcohol abuse, current	107 (17.7)	485 (11.3)	<0.0001
Cirrhosis	90 (14.9)	302 (7.1)	<0.0001
Chronic skin breakdown	82 (13.6)	517 (12.1)	0.2814
Obesity	76 (12.6)	671 (15.7)	0.0511
Chronic kidney disease	66 (11.0)	651 (15.2)	0.0058
HIV	32 (5.3)	108 (2.5)	0.0001
Risk groups
PEH	205 (34.0)	750 (17.5)	<0.0001
PWID	143 (23.7)	561 (13.1)	<0.0001
Both PEH and PWID	77 (12.8)	264 (6.2)	<0.0001
Either PEH or PWID	271 (44.9)	1,047 (24.4)	<0.0001

*P-values were generated using the chi-square test to compare categorical variables between groups.

†P-value from the Fisher’s exact test

‡Some cases had more than one syndrome identified; no other syndrome overlapped with ‘bacteraemia without focus’.

$Some cases had more than one underlying condition or risk factor.