Written by Rebecca Budde, SIU School of Medicine
The most common cause of this life-threatening infection in newborns is preventable, but many pregnant women have never heard of it. Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of infection in infants, and if left untreated, the infection can lead to long-term disabilities and death.
The GBS organism is carried in the female genital track and is passed on to babies during delivery. Many women infected with GBS do not have symptoms making screening very important. “At approximately 35 to 36 weeks gestation, all women should undergo screening for group B strep,” says Dr. Beau Batton, SIU neonatologist. “Women who are group B strep positive should be given antibiotics around the time of delivery in order to prevent infection in the baby.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a pregnant woman who tests positive for group B strep and gets antibiotics during labor has only a 1 in 4,000 chance of delivering a baby with group B strep disease. If antibiotics are not given at the time of labor, the baby has a 1 in 200 chance of developing GBS. Listen here for more information from the CDC about GBS.
Babies who contract GBS usually show symptoms in the first 24 hours after birth, but it can develop after going home from the hospital. According to Dr. Batton, signs and symptoms of GBS in an infant include
1. difficulty breathing
2. rapid breathing
3. periods when the infant stops breathing (apnea)
4. temperature instability
Dr. Batton recommends that all pregnant women see a physician for routine prenatal care and ask about group B strep screening prior to the birth of their baby.
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