Table 2.
Detection of pneumococcal-specific sequences in Streptococcus spp. strains, per S2-type. n.a., not applicable. Strains of this species were not included and tested in the current study. NT denotes all 17 S. pneumoniae strains were non-typeable. Significant difference (third column) in the proportion of α-haemolytic non-pneumococcal streptococci of the species cultured from disease (n = 53 total) versus carriage (n = 103 total), or (columns 4–10) in proportion of individual species strains positive for a particular molecular target when cultured from disease versus carriage.
| streptococcal species according to S2-type | n | disease/carriage (n/n) | lytA | piaB | ply | cps | Spn9802 | zmpC (560 bp) | zmpC (5 kb) | zmpC (8 kb) | qPCR serotype | CST serotype |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| β-haemolytic streptococci | 48 | 48/n.a. | ||||||||||
| S. agalactiae | 9 | 9/n.a. | —a | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. anginosus | 2 | 2/n.a. | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. constellatus | 1 | 1/n.a. | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis | 10 | 10/n.a. | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus | 2 | 2/n.a. | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| S. intermedius | 4 | 4/n.a. | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. pyogenes | 10 | 10/n.a. | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. suis | 10 | 10/n.a. | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| α-haemolytic streptococci | 174 | 53/103 | ||||||||||
| S. australis | 2 | 0/2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. cristatus | 3 | 2/1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. gallolyticus subsp. Gallolyticusc | 2 | 2/0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. gallolyticus subsp. Pasteurianusc | 2 | 2/0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. gordonii | 1 | 1/0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. infantis | 22 | 3/19* | — | — | — | — | — | 0/3b | 0/1 | — | 0/1 | — |
| S. mitis | 68 | 13/56*** | — | — | 5/13 | — | — | 0/2 | 0/1 | — | 1/3 | — |
| S. oralis | 25 | 10/15 | — | — | — | 1/0 | 1/0 | 0/1 | — | — | — | — |
| S. parasanguinis | 7 | 0/7 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. pseudopneumoniae | 6 | 3/3 | — | — | 2/1 | — | 3/0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. salivarius | 12 | 11/1# | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. sanguinis | 7 | 6/1** | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| S. pneumoniaeNT | 17 | n.a./17 | 17 | 3 | 15 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 10 | — | 3 | 3 |
| total | 221 | 101/120 | 0/17 | 0/3 | 8/29 | 1/3 | 4/7 | 1/16 | 0/12 | 0/0 | 1/7 | 0/3 |
aNone of the strains tested of the particular species generated an amplicon with 100% sequence homology to sequences published for S. pneumoniae.
bStrains which generated amplicons with 100% sequence homology to sequences published for S. pneumoniae.
cAlso γ-haemolytic.
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 #p < 0.0001 (Fisher's exact test).