Successive outbreaks of Group A streptococcus (GAS) in care of the elderly settings; lessons learned

Group A streptococcal (GAS) outbreaks in care of the elderly settings are rare. This article describes two successive outbreaks involving care of the elderly patients. The first outbreak involved 18 patients and the second involved six patients and two healthcare work­ers. We describe the difficulties encountered controlling GAS outbreaks in care of the elderly settings and how the lessons learned from the first outbreak influenced management of the second incident. Stringent infection control measures including isolation until completion of treatment and re-screening for evidence of eradica­tion were required to bring outbreak one under control. These measures were adopted early in outbreak two and we suspect that these measures and the rapid identifica­tion of carriers brought this second outbreak under con­trol quickly