Impact of Interleukin-37 and Vitamin D on children with Streptococcus pyogenes sore throat in Salah al-Din Governorate, Iraq

Sore throat is a common presentation in pediatric office settings and emergency departments. Bacterial infection due to Streptococcus pyogenes represented about 25% of sore throat in children. The study aimed to find a relationship between interleukin-37 and vitamin D levels in children with sore throat infection by S. pyogenes bacteria from Salah Al-din General Hospital and Samarra General Hospital in Salah al-Din Governorate, Iraq. The number of sore throat patients in the present study was 317, aged between 5 and 17 years old. The control group included 80 healthy individuals. Throat swabs from children were collected and aseptically inoculated on Petri plate media. Blood samples were collected from patients and control children for determination of Vitamin D and IL-37 by ELISA.  The study showed that 30.28% (96 of 317) of the children studied were infected with S. pyogenes bacteria. The results revealed a significant elevation in the mean IL-37 level among children with S. pyogenes infection (96.9±12.2 pg/ml) compared to the control group (62.5±11.3 pg/ml) (p-value = 0.0001).  Furthermore, children with S. pyogenes infection had a significantly lower mean vitamin D level (22.3±6.1 pg/ml) compared to the control group (52.8±3.08 pg/ml) (p-value = 0.0001). In conclusion, this study provides evidence of significant alterations in immune markers, including IL-37,   and vitamin D levels, in children with S. pyogenes infection compared to the control group. These findings suggest the involvement of these immune markers in the pathogenesis of S. pyogenes infection.