Five X More x Group B Strep Support (GBSS)

What is group B Strep?

Group B Strep (GBS or Strep B) is a bacteria carried by 20 to 25% of adults in the UK, typically in the gut or vagina. Carrying group B Strep doesn’t mean you have an infection or illness (it’s just carriage). Carriage rarely causes any symptoms to the carrier, and does not need to be treated. However, group B Strep does sometimes cause infection in newborn babies, typically around labour or after birth, and this chance is increased if you’re carrying group B Strep.

How do you get group B Strep?

Like many bacteria, group B Strep may be passed from one person to another through skin-to-skin contact, for example, hand contact, kissing, close physical contact, etc. As GBS is often found in the vagina and rectum of colonised women, it can be passed through sexual contact. However, it’s not a sexually transmitted disease or a sign of ill health or poor hygiene – it’s normal to carry group B Strep, around 20-40% of women do.

What can I do about group B Strep?

If a pregnant woman or birthing person is known to carry group B Strep in their current pregnancy, they will be offered IV antibiotics from the start of labour which reduce the risk of their newborn baby developing a group B Strep infection substantially.

However, the NHS doesn’t routinely test all pregnant women to see if they are carrying group B Strep bacteria, so most won’t know if they are carrying group B Strep. If you are pregnant and concerned about group B Strep, you may want to think about getting tested privately.

A group B Strep test is simple, safe and effective. The time to test is in the last 5 weeks before you are due to give birth (so between 35-37 weeks’ of pregnancy for most people). The charity maintains a list of private providers who offer the ‘gold standard’ ECM test for group B Strep whiich you can find by clicking HERE.

What happens if I test positive for group B Strep? Will my baby get sick?

Many babies come into contact with group B Strep during labour, or around or after birth and the vast majority will not become ill. There is a small chance that a newborn baby will develop group B Strep infection and become seriously ill or even die, and this is higher if you are carrying group B Strep. If you are known to carry group B Strep in your current pregnancy, you will be offered antibiotics from start of labour which reduce the risk of her newborn baby developing a group B Strep infection substantially.

The infections that group B Strep most commonly causes in newborn babies are:

· Sepsis - infection of the blood

· Pneumonia - infection in the lungs

· Meningitis - infection of the fluid and lining around the brain

Around 1 in every 1,750 babies in the UK and Ireland is diagnosed with early-onset group B Strep infection (when babies are between 0 and 6 days old).

And around 1 in every 2,700 babies in the UK and Ireland is diagnosed with late-onset group B Strep infection (when babies are between 7 and 90 days).

With prompt treatment, most babies will fully recover from their group B Strep infection, although sadly even with the best medical care approximately 1 in every 10 survivors recover with long-term health issues, and 1 in 16 of these very sick babies die.

Why doesn’t the UK test for group B Strep?

In the UK, the UK National Screening Committee sets national screening policy for group B Strep. They recommend against testing all pregnant women for group B Strep as they are not convinced there’s enough evidence it would do more good than harm. A clinical trial, GBS3, is underway, which is working to establish whether routine antenatal testing, used in most other high-income countries, would be better for the UK.

To be successful, the GBS3 trial needs 80 hospitals taking part in England, Wales and Scotland, but has fewer than half of the hospitals required signed up. Please take just two minutes to use this form to email your MP by clicking HERE, letting them know you want your local hospitals to prioritise taking part in GBS3. This will help stop babies falling sick and dying as a result of this usually preventable infection.