Two simple and available upon admission clinical predictors of group A streptococcus (GAS) documentation identified among a large cohort of surgically proven necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs).

The results show that NSTI patients with pre-existing immunodeficiency or an abdominal infection have a low probability of GAS infection and might thus not be suitable for inclusion in a trial assessing the effect of GAS-specific interventions.

Such findings need to be assessed in a validation cohort in order to reinforce their generalizability.

Improving identification upon admission of a subgroup of patients with a higher prevalence of GAS infection might help design future prospective trials aimed at assessing personalized treatment strategies.

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