Grown on rich medium plus blood. Facultative anaerobe, catalase negative Produce capsule made of hyaluronic acid identical to the hyaluronic acid in connective tissue. Primary sites of colonization are the nasal and oropharyngeal mucosal epithelium of the upper respiratory tract and the superficial layers of the epidermis. In some untreated cases, 2-3 weeks after the sore throat, rheumatic fever results. In some of these cases, heart disease or rheumatic heart disease results.
Syndrome is very similar to endotoxic shock exept for the appearance of a rash.
Contains a membrane anchor region, conserved region, variable and hypervariable regions. Coiled-coiled dimers promote extended molecules that extend beyond cell wall and interact with host proteins. Not a pilus. Suggested as an explanation for Rheumatic heart disease. Anti-phagocytic Antigenic variation is generated by point mutations, small insertions and deletions, and intragenic recombination between tandem repeat domains.