Managing Group B Strep

Dawn Fox of Mount Juliet, Tenn., had a 3-month-old daughter when she became pregnant again at the age of 26. Her second pregnancy, like her first, was uneventful and without complication. When she went into labor, during her 39th week, all of that changed.

Fox was running a high fever and her baby began to show signs of distress. An emergency C-section was performed and soon after the delivery, it became clear that her baby girl, Ellison, was sick. She was immediately transported to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a nearby hospital where tests revealed that she was infected with the Group B streptococcus bacteria and suffering from sepsis (a blood infection) and pneumonia. "We were told that our daughter was 'in grave condition,'" says Fox. "That phrase haunts me to this day."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a type of bacteria that can cause illness in newborn babies, pregnant women, the elderly and adults with other illnesses, such as diabetes or liver disease. Many adults carry GBS in their bodies without ever becoming ill, but pregnant women who carry GBS in their rectum or vagina (one out of every four or five are carriers, according to CDC estimates) run the risk of exposing their babies to the bacteria during labor and delivery.

GBS is the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborns, including sepsis and meningitis, as well as the frequent cause of newborn pneumonia. In pregnant women, GBS can cause bladder infections, womb infections and stillbirth. CDC figures suggest that one out of every 20 babies with GBS disease will die from the infection and those that survive may experience a host of long-term problems.

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