LANCRFIELD CLASSIFICATION

• Rebecca C Lancefield (January 5, 1895 – March 3,

1981) was a prominent American microbiologist.
She joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical
Research in New York in 1918, and was
associated with that institute throughout her
long and outstanding career. Her bibliography
comprises more than 50 publications published
over 60 years. Her main achievements lie in her
work on group A streptococci and their
association with rheumatic fever She is most
famous for her serological classification of beta-
hemolytic streptococcal bacteria which is based
on the c- carbohydrate composition of bacterial
antigens found on their cell walls.
 What is C-carbohydrate and
importance
It is composed of rhamnose and N acetyl
glucosamine, which is present in cell wall of
some groups of streptococci. This
carbohydrate can be detection as specific
antigenic characteristics with help of
serological diagnosis with specific antibody
reaction.
• Group A - Streptococcus pyogenes
• Group B - Streptococcus agalactiae
• Group C - Streptococcus equisimilis, Streptococcus equi,
Streptococcus zooepidemicus, Streptococcus dysgalactiae
• Group D - Enterococci, Streptococcus bovis
• Group E - Streptococcus milleri and mutans
• Group F - Streptococcus anginosus
• Group G - Streptococcus canis and Streptococcus
dysgalactiae
• Group H - Streptococcus sanguis
• Group L - Streptococcus dysgalactiae
• Group N - Lactococcus lactis
• Group R&S - Streptococcus suis
• other Streptococcus species are classified as non-Lancefield
Streptococci eg. streptococci pneumoniae and
streptococcus mutans