strep b

[amylouisexx]

hi everyone I'm just woundering could anyone help me out. I had strep b on my first child... how high are the chances that I wont on my second child ?

[GBSSadmin Partner Volunteer Group B Strep Support]

Hi AmyLouisexx

Good question! The fact that you carried group B Strep in your last pregnancy doesn't mean that you will next time round.

Group B Strep carriage can quite naturally come and go from the vagina so the bacteria can be there one month and not the next … and back again at some other time. Although research has shown that, using sensitive tests, the test results are highly predictive of colonisation status for around five weeks, they're not a good predictor for much longer times.

There is currently no good data that can predict carriage of GBS over periods of a year or more. However, since there is an increased chance of a woman carrying GBS in a pregnancy if GBS has been found previously - research has estimated that a woman may be around 50% more likely to carry GBS in another pregnancy if she carried it before.

It is therefore the view of our medical panel that, if possible, the pregnant woman should be offered a test specifically for GBS carriage at 35-37 weeks of pregnancy to establish whether she is still carrying GBS. If the test is positive, then she should be offered intravenous antibiotics as soon as possible once labour has started.

All too often, the 'gold standard' GBS-specific tests (also known as ECM tests) aren't available within the NHS, though it's always worth asking. They are available privately, and we list at gbss.org.uk/test the places we know follow Public Health England's UK SMI B58 guidelines.

Hope that helps - don't hesitate to come back to us if you have more questions.