What is Group B Strep, what are the symptoms and what are the risks of GBS during pregnancy?
The bacterial infection can often be undetectable in adults but can end up killing in some occasions
ON AVERAGE in Britain, at least one baby dies every week from Group B Strep.
Here's everything we know about the potentially deadly infection...
What is Group B Strep?
Group B Streptococcus, or GBS is not uncommon in adults and affects between 20 and 40 per cent of us.
It typically lives in the rectum or vagina, but it is usually harmless and undetectable.
It only gets complicated when it affects a certain group of people, which are:
- Elderly people, or those who are very ill as it can cause repeated or serious infections
- Pregnant women as it could spread to their baby
- Young babies as it can make this incredibly ill.
It can be tested for and is important to to prevent babies from developing the infection as it has been known to kill.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms in newborn babies usually develop really early on, in around the first 24 hours after birth.
Symptoms in babies include:
- fever,
- breathing problems/grunting sounds,
- bluish-colored skin (cyanosis),
- seizures,
- limpness or stiffness,
- heart rate and blood pressure abnormalities,
- poor feeding,
- vomiting,
- diarrhea, and
- fussiness.
If adults develop invasive GBS they will experience:
- bloodstream infection (sepsis),
- skin and soft-tissue infection,
- bone and joint infection,
- lung infection (pneumonia),
- urinary tract infection, and
- rarely, an infection of the fluid and lining tissues surrounding the brain (meningitis).
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What are the risks during pregnancy?
The main risk you carry if you have Group B Strep when pregnant is passing it onto the baby, which is potentially deadly.
It can cause sepsis, pneumonia or meningitis for the child, all of which can kill.
Pregnant women are also at risk as a GBS infection can cause UTIs but other complications include preterm delivery, fetal death or miscarriage.