GBS

February 2008

By: Carla Liberatore, MD, FACOG

Dr. Liberatore is a board certified obstetrician-gynecologist.

Group B Streptococcus – (sometimes called GBS) – is a type of bacteria that can be found in 1 in 4 healthy pregnant women in the United States. The bacteria may be found in the digestive, urinary and reproductive tracts of women and men.   Finding GBS does not mean that you are not clean and it does not mean that you have a sexually transmitted disease.

GBS is very common in pregnant women.  The good news is very few babies actually become sick from GBS infection.   However, for those who do become ill, serious medical problems can occur leaving some babies’ lives in danger.   The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends testing during pregnancy and treatment during labor and delivery to help prevent GBS infection.

The most accurate way to test for GBS in expectant mothers is through a culture, between 35 and 37 weeks of pregnancy and can be obtained through a visit to the ob-gyn.  Samples will then be sent to a lab where it may take up to two days to get results.   If positive for GBS, women will be treated during labor.  If at any time during pregnancy GBS is present in the urine, antibiotics should be administered as it would be for any other infection.

To reduce the risk of GBS infection in newborns, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that all women who test positive for GBS be treated with antibiotics during labor to help prevent GBS from being passed to your baby.  Babies of women who are carriers of GBS and do not get treatment have more than 20 times the risk of getting infected than those who do receive treatment.

The symptoms for early-onset GBS infection can seem like other problems in newborns.  Some symptoms are fever, difficulty feeding, irritability, or lethargy – (limpness or a baby that is hard to wake up).  Parents who think their newborn is sick are urged to get immediate medical attention.  Both early and late infection can be serious.  These infections can cause inflammation of the baby’s blood, lungs, brain and spinal cord.