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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."
GBS is the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborns. |
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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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