Streptococcus pyogenes colonization in children aged 24–59 months in the Gambia: impact of live attenuated influenza vaccine and associated serological responses

Abstract

Background

Immunity to Streptococcus pyogenes in high burden settings is poorly understood. We explored S. pyogenes nasopharyngeal colonization after intranasal live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) among Gambian children aged 24–59 months, and resulting serological response to 7 antigens.

Methods

A post hoc analysis was performed in 320 children randomized to receive LAIV at baseline (LAIV group) or not (control). S. pyogenes colonization was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) on nasopharyngeal swabs from baseline (day 0), day 7, and day 21. Anti-streptococcal IgG was quantified, including a subset with paired serum before/after S. pyogenes acquisition.

Results

The point prevalence of S. pyogenes colonization was 7%–13%. In children negative at day 0, S. pyogenes was detected at day 7 or 21 in 18% of LAIV group and 11% of control group participants (P = .12). The odds ratio (OR) for colonization over time was significantly increased in the LAIV group (day 21 vs day 0 OR, 3.18; P = .003) but not in the control group (OR, 0.86; P = .79). The highest IgG increases following asymptomatic colonization were seen for M1 and SpyCEP proteins.

Conclusions

Asymptomatic S. pyogenes colonization appears modestly increased by LAIV, and may be immunologically significant. LAIV could be used to study influenza-S. pyogenes interactions.

Clinical Trials Registration. NCT02972957.

Metadata

Authors/Creators:

Keeley, A.J. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9386-1157
Groves, D.
Armitage, E.P.
Senghore, E.
Jagne, Y.J.
Sallah, H.J.
Drammeh, S.
Angyal, A.
Hornsby, H. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6657-9743
de Crombrugghe, G.
Smeesters, P.R.
Rossi, O.
Carducci, M.
Peno, C.
Bogaert, D.
Kampmann, B.
Marks, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7585-4743
Shaw, H.A.
Turner, C.R. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4458-9748
de Silva, T.I. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6498-9212

© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords:

streptococcus pyogenes; The Gambia; antibodies; carriage; colonization; live attenuated influenza vaccine; serological responses; Humans; Child; Influenza Vaccines; Gambia; Streptococcus pyogenes; Influenza, Human; Vaccines, Attenuated; Immunoglobulin G

Dates: