Get tested for GBS before baby's birth

Up to 30 percent of women in the U.S. about to give birth are carrying a dangerous bacterium that could threaten the lives of their babies, but they are not aware of it.

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a bacterium that infects the birth canal. It is harmless to the mother but can be deadly to an infant being born through the canal. GBS is usually found in 10 to 30 percent of all adult women, and infects their vagina and lower intestine. It is not a sexually transmitted disease, and the women found positive for the bacterium are called “colonized.”

Infants infected with GBS before or during birth can be subject to miscarriage, stillbirth, or even death soon after delivery. The infants that survive often become permanently disabled; they may become blind, deaf, mentally retarded, or suffer cerebral palsy.

GBS usually infects the blood (sepsis), the fluids of the brain (meningitis), and the lungs (pneumonia) a few hours of birth. Other symptoms include difficulty breathing, elevated blood pressure, and problems in the kidney and gastrointestinal tract.

But doctors have devised an effective means to prevent the bacterium from infecting newborns. Before birth, a doctor can order a simple swab test on the birth canal to check if the mother is infected. If she is, a dose of intravenous antibiotic (usually intravenous penicillin) is administered to the mother to protect the baby during delivery.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all pregnant women should be routinely screened for GBS. This is especially recommended for women who are having their second pregnancy, because a study by researchers at the University of Texas Medical School has found that the risk of GBS infection during a second pregnancy is 53 percent.

The routine testing and antibiotic scheme has been successful. According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, there has been a 25 percent reduction in early-onset GBS, which refers to GBS infection within the first week of birth.

However, the incidence has not changed for infants suffering late-onset GBS, where the infections occur after the first week or several months after birth.

The downside is that the approach has become too popular.

Only up to 30 percent of pregnant women are expected to test positive for GBS and receive antibiotic treatment each year. But there are estimates that say more than two times that figure are administered antibiotics needlessly.

The danger is that antibiotic-resistant strains of GBS could develop.

But until doctors find a better way, the pregnant women should make sure they are tested for GBS.

Safety Tip:

* Get tested for GBS between your 35th and 37th week. If you test positive, be at the hospital early enough for your antibiotic treatment. If not positive, make sure you do not get antibiotic.