Epidemiologic investigations
In accordance with the medical centre’s policy, an epidemiologic investigation was carried out after every case of postpartum GAS infection, and it included screening for group A streptococci carriage from all healthcare workers who treated the patients from the time of admission. Personnel screening included cultures of the throat, rectum, and skin lesions (if present). An institutional investigation was carried out by The Infection Control Unit in cases of GAS infection-related isolation, and the healthcare workers who had been screened during the investigation were sent to the national streptococci reference laboratory for subtyping analysis in cases of hospital-acquired infection.